Their Mortal Friends
by sercet.writer
Summary: When Percy goes to live with Annabeth during the school year, it comes as quite a change to her mortal friends, especially one who has a crush on her. Read about the ups and down between Percy and Annabeth and their mortal friends, and what it's exactly like getting to know two strange people with an even stranger past.
1. Chapter 1

Ben's POV

I was sitting with my best friend, and crush, Annabeth Chase. Annabeth, you could say, flawless. She had long, curly blonde hair that she hardly ever combed, but was perfect. Her eyes were this stormy grey colour that scared me, but suited her perfectly. They seemed to analyse your every move, calculating every possible action. They were also filled with sadness—as if she faced some sort of loss. If she did, I would be there for her. Of course I would. We were best friends. I knew her better than anyone.

We were also with our other friends, at her house, in her living room. Yes, I was in her living room. Our friends were Sara, Claire, Roger and James. We were playing truth or dare. I was hoping one of my friends would ask Annabeth or who we liked, since we liked each other. Then, we could finally kiss and go out. They all knew I liked her, so why not?

"Annabeth, we're bored!" I heard a whiny voice scream.

One of Annabeth's twin brothers. They annoyed me, but I pretended not to dislike them for Annabeth's sake. She's grateful to anyone who tries with them. Except they don't like me.

"Yeah, come play with us!" the other twin screamed.

"Take us to the beach—"

"Or the park—"

"Or anything!"

"Go in your room, I'm busy!"

"Fine!" they stormed off, leaving us relieved.

"So, Annabeth, truth or dare?" James asked her.

My heart raced. This was it. This was it…

"Truth."

"Who is the closest person to you ever?"

He winked at me and I gave him a grateful look. I leaned forward a bit, anticipating the answer.

"Percy."

My jaw dropped. My name was not Percy.

"I'm sorry who?" James asked.

"Percy, you don't know him, he's my best friend."

"How come we've never met him?" I choked out.

"Lives in New York. But yeah. I'm closest to him."

"What about us?" Sara asked in mock hurt. I was actually grateful for the question.

She laughed. "I love you guys. But Percy knows me better than I know myself. No exaggeration. It's actually annoying…"

We were about to question more about Percy when Matthew and Bobby raced down the stairs, wearing matching swimming trunks.

"We're going to the beach!" they yelled in unison and raced to the door.

"Hold it!" Annabeth yelled. They froze. "Reverse!" They slowly backed up towards us.

"You guys can't go without someone to watch you."

"We do have someone to watch us."

"Bye now!"

"Wait!" she screamed again.

"Neither of us are going to watch you."

"We know that," Bobby said slowly.

"Percy'll take us." Matthew finished.

As if on cue, a black haired and green-eyed boy raced down the steps, and stopped short when he saw us.

"Told you guys we should've gone through the back!" he yelled throwing his head back.

"Percy, why are you here?" Annabeth asked impatiently.

"Boys said you were ignoring them. I know how that feels. We're going to the beach. You know your dad won't mind. Not after last year."

Huh? Mr. Chase has never left me alone with the twins before. Why would he trust this Percy? He seemed reckless.

"Hurry, out!" he screamed to the boys, and the three of them raced out the door.

Although I didn't like the boys, I still felt a little jealous that they were so comfortable with him. If I was going to be with Annabeth, I had to be close with her family.

Annabeth sighed. "I should have seen that coming! Course they'd call Percy."

"I thought he lived in New York?" Claire said, more like a question.

"Must have been in town," Annabeth grumbled, but said something about a stupid Di Angelo kid under her breath.

"Sorry, guys," she said louder. "That was my oh-so-great best friend, Percy," that last part was sarcastic. "But the boys idolize him. He's over here a lot."

She sighed. "What now?"

Annabeth's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Chase came in. I greeted them quite politely.

""Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Chase, how are you?"

"We're fine, Ben, thank you? Annabeth, where are the twins?" I stopped myself from smiling. They didn't trust Percy if they didn't trust me.

"They went off with some boy," I tell them.

Their eyebrows knit in concern.

"Percy," Annabeth says simply.

"Beach?" Mrs. Chase asks.

"Where else?"

To my surprise, they all laugh. Why would they trust him to take their kids to the beach.

About 2 hours later, after our game of truth or dare, and watching tv, and just goofing around, the front door opened.

"We're home!" I heard Percy call.

"You don't live here, Perce!" Annabeth screamed from her seat beside me. Yes, yes, beside me.

The three boys walked into the room.

"It was"

"Awesome!"

"Percy makes the beach"

"The coolest place on the planet!" the twins screamed simultaneously.

Mr. and Mrs. Chase, who were in the room, smiled.

Mrs. Chase shushed them and sent them to go bathe. The gave in and ran to the bathrooms.

Annabeth then sighed and stood up much to my discontent. "Well, this is Percy. Perce, that's Claire, James, Roger, Sara, and Ben," she spat. "You could have told me you were coming, you know?"

"Well, I'm sorry, but when Matthew and Bobby IMed me saying you were ignoring them, I thought: Well, she ignores me all the time. I know how it feels. Plus, I love them. Why not?"

"I do not ignore you!"

"Yes, you do!"

"Perseus Jackson, I do—"

"When we were twelve! That's pretty much all you did! Percy you're so stupid. Percy, why can't you leave me alone? Percy, I hate your dad!"

"Shut up! You're so irritating! You—"

"And you're not? Annabeth, all you do is call me—"

"You're no better than your dad!"

"You say that like your mother is such a prize! Well—"

"My _mother_ is better than your father!"

"Oh, really? I beg to differ—"

"Where'd you learn to say that?"

I watched them in bewilderment. I was guiltily happy they were fighting. They'd probably stop talking and _I _would be Annabeth's best friend. I looked over to Annabeth's parents, who acted as thought nothing was happening. They probably were waiting for them to fight and stop being best friends.

"You are the must insufferable person I've ever met!"

"I'm surprised you know how to use that word! You know, sometimes I really do wonder if you have a brain, or if it is actually filled with seaweed!"

"Yeah, well, you're such a know-it-all, it's annoying!"

"At least I'm not as dumb as…as…I don't know! Uncle Ferdinand!"

Percy immediately burst out laughing. Annabeth joined in. Soon, both of them were lying on the ground next to each other, tears falling with laughter.

Percy caught his breath and sputtered out, "L-L-Lotus Casino!"

That threw Annabeth into another fit of laughter. "Guinea Pig!" she shouted.

"Wedding dress!"

I watched in complete and utter shock.

"Does this happen often?" Claire asked.

Her parents said, "At least once a day. They're best friends, they always start looking like they're going to kill each other. Then, something about their past comes up and they laugh about it like it's a joke. They forget they were fighting in the first place," they explained.

"Hey, Helen, Frederick," Percy said finally.

"How are you, Percy?"

He shrugged. "Usual. Hey Helen?"

"Yes?"

"I'm hungry!" he grinned like a maniac. The only thing running through my head was that he had no manners.

"Blue pancakes?"

Percy's eyes went wide and he hugged Mrs. Chase. "Thank you," he whispered dramatically.

She laughed and went to the kitchen.

"Percy, how are you getting home? You live in New York," Mr. Chase asked. Ha, I wanted to hear this!

"Think I'll stay."

He nodded and walked away.

"You won't ask permission to stay?" I ask finally.

"Don't have to," he says simply.

"That's an understatement," Annabeth laughed. "He has clothes here, a toothbrush, and a key."

I gape.

"How come we don't get keys?" Roger joked.

Annabeth shrugged and laughed off the question.

Percy went upstairs to bathe and "IM" his mom saying he's be home tomorrow.

"Guess what, Annie?"

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever. One of our _old friends_ visited my mom." Her eyes widened. "Everything's fine, but I've got to get home to, you know. I called Nico already. I'll IM you later, kay?"

"Yeah, course. Oh, and, tell Sally hi!"

He rolled his eyes saying, "You two are too close for my comfort. Anyway!," He added louder, "Helen, Frederick, Stoll Juniors, I'm leaving!"

"Bye, Percy! See you whenever you pop up again!" Mr. Chase called from wherever he was.

Mrs. Chase hustled in and handed him his blue pancakes before saying goodbye.

The twin rushed down the steps. "You aren't staying?" they looked crestfallen.

I felt horrible. I should have been nicer to them. They often ask me, "You aren't leaving?" with the same disappointed look.

"Sorry, guys, next time."

"Bring Travis and Connor!"

"NO!" Annabeth and Percy screamed in unison. "

"You four cannot be in the same house together. The last time that happened…let's just say you two and the Stolls could be brothers," Annabeth explained.

"Well, Nico's gonna be here like, now. So, bye guys. 'till nest time!"

With that he ran through the door leaving two disappointed twins and an amused Annabeth.

"Okay, missy. Explain." Sara said.

"About?" Annabeth questioned.

"That hot guy that just came and left as if it's the most normal thing to do."

"It is to him."

"Explain!"

"What do you want to know?"

"Who is he?" Roger asked.

"Why does he have a key to your apartment?" that was James.

"How did you meet?" Sara, of course.

"Are you dating?" asked Claire.

"How come we've never heard of him? How long have you known him? How come he's your best friend. I thought that was me—er, us." I sputtered out.

Annabeth sighed.

"That was Perseus Jackson, the most clueless person you will meet on the earth. Also, my best friend in the world. I literally trust him with my life—and so does my dad—and he trusts me with his. He has a key to my apartment because I have a key to his and we never announce when we're visiting. We met when we were 12. It was one of the weirdest encounters. Hated each other at first, but we went on a trip and became best friends. We are most definitely _not _dating. You've never heard of him because he never came up. He's my best friend because he's been there for me through most things and more than anyone I know. You guys are my best friends at school, yeah, but definitely Percy. At camp. And not at camp. But you get it."

"He goes to your camp?"

"Uh-huh"

"Oh."

I needed some time to think about this, so I pretended to get a text from my mom and let the house, my friends following me. Everytime I asked to go to her Camp, she told me no. How come Percy got to go? If there was one thing I hoped, it was that I wouldn't see Percy again.


	2. The Not-Date

**A/N: I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M WRITING THIS, NO ONE READS THESE THINGS. BUT, THIS IS MY FIRST STORY, AND I REALLY, REALLY WANT TO SAY THANK YOU. I KNOW EVERYONE PROBABLY WRITES THIS, BUT THOSE REVIEWS MADE MY DAY. THANK YOU SO, SO MUCH, AND I PLAN TO CONTINUE AND FINISH THIS STORY. I WILL PUBLISH AS MUCH AS I CAN. THANKS AGAIN, GUYS.**

By Monday morning, I had forgotten all about Percy Jackson.

"Hey, Annie," I say as I approached her.

"Don't call me that!"

I throw my hands up in surrender while she chuckled.

"Hi, Ben," she says.

"Ready to go?"

She nods. We walk down the hallway together, and I was tempted to hold her hand, but I resisted. I sucked up the courage to ask her out finally.

"Annabeth, would you like to, uh, maybe, go to the movies?"

"Sure, who all's invited?"

I sighed. Annabeth was the smartest person I knew, but she had absolutely no idea when someone liked her—even if it was as obvious as this was.

"I was thinking that maybe—"

"Wait! Sorry, Ben. I've got to go home. The twins are alone. We'll talk tomorrow?"

"Course."

She ran away and I groaned. I should have spoken faster!

"Ben!" I hear someone call.

I whipped around to see none other than the Percy Jackson standing in front of me.

"Percy?"

"Hey! Have you seen Annabeth? Oh, and guess what?"

"What?"

"I'm transferring here!"

"You're kidding." I said without enthusiasm.

"Nope! Isn't that great? So you haven't seen her? I want to tell her. She'll either be really mad I didn't tell her, or really glad I'll be living with her."

"Nope," I lied. "I was actually asking her out on a date, finally, since we like each other, but she rushed off. I don't know where she is now." I decided to tell him my plan so that he would know Annabeth was mine.

His face fell significantly. "You-you what?"

"Was going to ask her out."

"That's not a good idea."

"Why not?"

"Annabeth has trust issues."

"I happen to be her best friend!"

"So do I! And Thalia! And Grover! But that's not the point. A couple years ago this guy sort of broke her trust. It was the worst thing that's ever happened to her. She hasn't trusted anyone like that since."

"We've been best friends for over a year!"

"He was her best friend since she was _seven_."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Just don't hurt yourself."

"Well, Annabeth and I are close enough. In fact, she said yes!"

For some reason his eyes filled with sadness. "She what?"

"She said, 'Sure!'"

Percy shook his head and closed his eyes tight. He reopened them and said in a shaky voice that surprisingly scared me to bits, "Do. Not. Hurt. Her." He took a breath before continuing. "Sorry. I don't know, I guess I'm protective. She's my best friend. Want to go to her house? We could find her?"

"Sure," I said triumphantly.

We walked the distance to her house and I reached for the doorbell. However, Percy had a different idea. He was about to throw open the door, but I stopped him.

"Where are your manners? You can't just barge in."

"Yeah, I can. I've done it a million times before."

"But they don't know you're coming."

"Your point?"

I sighed and gestured for him to open the door.

He threw it open and threw his school bag on the couch.

"Who's there?" I heard Annabeth call.

"Relax, Chase, I'm not a monster."

"Percy? Thank the gods, the boys are driving me crazy I almost considered going back up Mount—"

Percy's eyes widened and he jumped out on top of Annabeth. Annabeth fell to the ground and looked shocked.

"What the Hades, Percy!" Annabeth shrieked from underneath him.

"Couldn't let you finish that sentence."

"Why—" then she noticed me. "Oh, right. Smart."

Percy stood up quickly and brushed himself off. I noticed their cheeks were flushed with pink.

"What were you saying?" I ask.

"Nothing!" They said in a voice that made you know it was something.

"Well, I'm going to leave you too alone," Percy said harshly.

"Where are you going, Jackson?"

"Kitchen," he announced simply. He seemed pissed.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, alright, go feed yourself and leave Ben and I out here by ourselves to starve!"

Percy turned around, anger and hurt in his eyes, "Won't you eat on your date?" he snapped. I think he was trying to make it sound light and in a teasing mood. However, it sounded hurt and angry.

He walked himself to where was probably the kitchen and I mentally noted how well he knew the house. I had hardly been to the kitchen twice.

"What date?" Annabeth asked me.

"The movies…"

"You meant that as a date?"

"Well, yeah."

Her eyes widened and she said, "Look, Ben, I'll go to movies with you, but let's just go as friends for right now, okay?"

I nodded. "Percy said you had trust issues, but I knew—"

"Percy said what?!"

I was going to answer, but she stopped me.

"Perseus Jackson!" she screamed. She stormed into the kitchen, me hot on her heels.

"You told him I have _trust _issues?"

Percy turned away from an open cabinet. "Well, since—"

"_Don't _say it."

"After what happened during the winter—"

"Perseus Jackson, I swear—"

"With _Luke_." He said 'Luke' slowly as if it was forbidden to be spoken.

Annabeth's eyes flashed with rage. Percy simply walked up the stairs screaming, "Have fun on your date, guys!"

"What time should I pick you up?" I ask, suddenly, when he's out of sight. I figure it's best to change the subject.

"Uh, six, but listen, Ben. Percy was right. I sort of do have trust issues. Something…happened to me a couple years ago. I just…can't go on a _date_ right now."

"Then we'll go as friends."

"Well, 6:00."

She politely dragged me to the door and closed it behind me. Well, half closed it. There was still a crack left so that I could see the reason she hadn't closed it completely was because Percy was coming down the steps.

I saw Annabeth walk up to him pointing a finger in his face.

"You. Why would you do that? Why would you say that? You know!"

"It's true! Ever since Luke happened, who do you trust? Grover, me and Thalia? That's _three_ people, Annabeth. You're going on a date with him. You do realize how hard that'll be."

"Grover, Thalia and I. And I trust more than three people, Percy. There's Chiron! And Katie, the Stolls! And it is not a date! He's my friend, Percy. How can you be so evil? You know how I feel about Luke and you call it trust issues? Evil. You. Are. Evil."

"Shut up with the corrections! It was true! Do you not remember? Do you still think you can trust him? Remember what he _did _to you?"

"Of course, I remember!"

He continued as if she hadn't spoken. "He kidnapped you, Annabeth. He tried to _kill _you."

"I know that! Don't you think that's hard enough for me?"

"And, I'm evil? _Me?_ I saved you. I risked camp, my mom, my _life_ and I saved you! Remember what I did for you? _You!_ Don't you dare call me evil."

"I didn't ask you to save me, Percy. I never—"

"What was I supposed to do? Sit and wait for you to come home? Who else would have saved you? Do you think he would have turned good and let you go? What did you think I was going to do? For all we know, he's dead!"

"He's not dead."

"Gods, Annabeth, how do you know that? You can't know everything!"

"I just know, okay Percy. The same way you knew I wasn't dead!"

"Fine, Annabeth! Great! You know what, since it's such a huge deal, I'm sorry for saving your life. I'm sorry for risking being banned from camp, my only home, to save you. I am so sorry you still have a soft spot for the guy who has tried to kill you. I am sorry for saving you. Truly."

"_I didn't ask you to_—"

"What did you think? You were my best friend, I was supposed to let you die? Did you think I would do that?" His voice had softened to barely a whisper.

She shook her head. "No. Of course not."

"Look, Annabeth, sor—"

"No! No, Percy! I-I was wrong. You were right. You did save me. Of course, he's evil. You are not evil, Percy. And you're my best friend. And if it wasn't for you, I'd be dead. No. No. You aren't evil. I learned that when we were twelve. And I do have trust issues. I just—I trusted him. He—we—I was seven. He helped me, bu—"

I was surprised to hear her voice crack.

"I know it's a touchy subject. I should never have said it. I'm sorry."

I pushed the door open more so that I could see them better. I saw Annabeth crying on Percy. I had never seen her cry before, but there she was.

She pulled away and said, "Are. I _am_ your best friend."

He gave her a goofy grin. "Well, duh. But I'm yours."

She rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Thank you, Percy. Seriously. It's just, you're such a seaweed brain sometimes—"

"So I've been told. And no problem. I'd do it for anyone."

Her gaze dropped and she looked a bit disappointed. "Yeah. I-I should got get ready."

"Oh, yeah. Your date."

"It isn't a date."

"It is to him."

"No, we're friends."

"Trust me, he likes you."

"Percy!"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up!"

"Nah, don't think I will."

"Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you."

"Because I'm your best friend."

"I wonder about that, too."

"Jeez, Annabeth, you know how to hurt my feelings. I'm pretty sure Grover felt that one."

They burst out laughing at his inside joke. I processed what I'd just heard. Annabeth had been kidnapped. I hadn't known and Percy had saved her. How was that even possible? I know Annabeth went to her camp over the winter, but she was supposed to be _in camp_.

I decided I had time to think about that. Right now, I had to get ready for my, er, not-date.


	3. Dessert for Breakfast

**A/N: THANKS AGAIN FOR YOUR REVIEWS, GUYS. SERIOUSLY. ALSO, PLEASE FEELNFREE TO PM ME WITH ANY IDEAS FOR THE STORY.**

**DISCLAIMER: I ONLY WISH I OWNED PJO**

At 6:00 I left my house all dressed up. I called James and Roger over, telling them I had a date with Annabeth, but we were only going as friends. I told them I should probably dress casual, but they said Annabeth probably called Sarah and Claire over just like I did them. I obliged and let them get out a white button down shirt and black jeans. They wished me luck and left my house. When I thought I looked presentable, I walked over to Annabeth's, heart beating fast.

I rang the doorbell, but there was no answer. Instead I heard a shrill voice scream, "No! Percy, get off me! Percy, stop! Leave me alone! Leave me alone!"

My eyes widened and I burst the door open. What I saw, I was not expecting. I saw Annabeth laughing uncontrollably as Percy tickled her. Percy was laughing at how much she was laughing, and the rest of their family was laughing at their laughs. When they finally acknowledged my presence, Mr. Chase cleared his throat.

"Hello, Mr. Chase, Mrs. Chase," I said politely.

"Is he always this mannerly?" Percy asked to no one in particular.

Mr. Chase gave him a stern look and said, "Good evening, er, Benjamin, is it?"

"Yes, sir."

I looked over at Annabeth. She had on a plain grey t-shirt, short pants and stud owl earrings. Her hair was all messy from ramping around with Percy.

"Uh, whenever you're ready, Annabeth."

"Oh, right!"

She looked into a small mirror in the living room and frowned. She pulled out her messy ponytail and put it back into a slightly neater one.

"Ready!" she announced.

"Great," I said politely.

"Bye, guys. See you when the movie's done!"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Later, Annie," He said and walked out the room.

Annabeth looked hurt and muttered, "Come on, let's go."

She grabbed my hand and dragged me out the door.

Our not-date was actually pretty nice, but it definitely was not like a date. We had more than one laughing fits and missed lots of the movie scenes because of it. Once, I tried to grab for her hand, but it conveniently moved to reach for popcorn. We were best friends again, and, though it wasn't a date, I couldn't be happier.

I walked her all the way to her door and said my goodnight. I wanted so badly to just kiss her and make everything better. Maybe a couple weeks ago, I would have, but I wasn't so sure now.

"Ben? Ben?" Annabeth snapped her fingers in my face.

I shook my head and she laughed. She was so beautiful when she laughed. Her nose crinkled a little and her eyes shone brighter than anything you've ever seen.

"I was asking if you want to go to Dessert for Breakfast tomorrow morning."

I froze. Was-was Annabeth Chase asking me on a _date _date.

"Yeah, I'd love to!"

"Great," she smiled. "We'll pick you up at 10?"

"Yeah!"

Maybe if I hadn't been so elated I would have noticed that she said _we. _I walked the rest of the way home, my smile never leaving my face.

At 10:15 the next morning, my doorbell rang. I got up swiftly and looked at my t-shirt and jeans. It wasn't dressy, but after last night, I didn't want to overdress again. I opened the door and saw Annabeth. Her hair was in a messily made side braid with a few strands falling in her face. She had on dark blue skinny jeans and a sea-green t-shirt tucked into them. She wore a white belt to top it all off. Only one word could describe her: Gorgeous!

"Hey Ben, you ready?" Annabeth said.

"Uh, yeah, let's go. You look great, by the way."

She frowned at me and looked back down at her outfit. "Really?" she asked. "I wouldn't have thought he had taste."

I was just about to ask her what she meant, but there was no need. Waiting for us downstairs, was none other than Percy Jackson. I was so angry, I wouldn't have been surprised if smoke was coming out of my ears.

He looked as if he just got out of bed. His eyes were the same colour as Annabeth's shirt and he wore this goofy grin. He had on a plain grey t-shirt and dark blue jeans like Annabeth's.

He smiles at me weakly. "Hey, Ben."

I nod toward him. "Percy."

"Guys, let's go!" Annabeth exclaimed.

Percy laughed. "I never knew you were so excited for breakfast, Wise Girl."

"But this is dessert, Seaweed Brain."

"You sound like the Stolls."

"So do you."

"Now we just need to finish each other's—"

"Sentences," Annabeth finished quickly. "Ha!"

Percy rolled his eyes. "Come on."

"Hey, guys," I asked, "What's with the nicknames."

"Inside joke," they said in unison.

"Great, now we really sound like Travis and Connor," Annabeth muttered.

"Who?"

"Oh, our friends," Percy answered. "from camp."

I nodded not wanting to talk about their camp and feel even more out of place.

We arrived at Dessert for Breakfast and I held out the door for Annabeth and Percy. They walked in ahead of me and slid into a booth beside the window on either side. I walked up to them and slid in next to Annabeth.

A waiter walked up to our table immediately and asked us of we already knew what we wanted to order. Luckily, we did.

"I'll have a banana split," Annabeth said.

"Same," I repeated.

Percy, however, was having a harder time. "No, no, I want _blue _chocolate chip cookies and _blue _ice cream."

"I'm sorry, sir, but—"

He shook his head. "Well, then, we'll just leave and go spend our money somewhere else."

The waiter's eyes widened. "No, that's fine. We'll bring your orders."

Percy relaxed and settled back into his seat.

"What was—" I started, but Annabeth gave me a look that said _don't ask_.

"So," Annabeth stated. "Perce, you ready for school?"

"Only you ever are, Annabeth."

"That's not true!" she defended.

"Yes, it is. Besides, when am I ready for school? If I had my way, I'd be at camp."

"You mean you wouldn't want to live with me?" she asked in mock hurt.

"I see enough of you at camp."

I'm not sure but there was a flicker of something in each of their eyes, but it was gone the next second.

"You know you can't live without me," she said quieter

"You have no idea how true that is."

"I think I might have some idea," she winked.

I felt like a third-wheel sitting them while they had their conversation; I was extremely relieved when the waiter came with our orders. We thanked him and dug in. While we ate in silence, I was forced to notice that while I was eating in silence awkwardly, Percy and Annabeth seemed comfortable in each other's presence. I was also aware of how close I was to Annabeth.

I scooted over by her a little more but I accidentally knocked her hand and her spoon fell onto her face and dropped onto her shirt.

"Sorry!" I exclaimed, but she just laughed out loud.

"Hey!" Percy exclaimed. "You got ice cream all over my shirt!"

Annabeth laughed even harder. "Nobody told me you to give me your shirt."

"The deal was we got to pick out each other's clothes!"

"But I didn't give you my shirt, did I?"

"You put me in grey!"

"You put me in green."

"Sea-green."

"But still green."

"But grey is your thing."

"So why did you put me in green? Grey _is _my thing. Ben tell him it's my thing."

"It's her thing," I complied.

Percy laughed, I joined in, and soon the three of us were in fits of laughter. I hated how comfortable I was with Percy. I hardly knew him, but I knew he was a great guy.

In laughing, Annabeth bent over and her face landed right directly into her banana split. We laughed even harder, of possible. I was having a great time. Percy leaned over and stretched his hand out to scoop ice cream off Annabeth's face. He stuck his finger in his mouth and his eyes lit up.

"This tastes amazing!" he cried.

He took his spoon and dipped it into Annabeth's banana split.

"Hands off, Kelp Head."

He held his hands up in surrender. Slowly, the laughter died down and we were breathing normally again. We finished eating with a little small talk, but nothing else really happened. We finished eating, paid, and got out of our booth. Well, Annabeth and I did. Percy, however, was still slouched in his chair.

"Come on, Percy," Annabeth complained.

He groaned, "Help me up."

Annabeth rolled her eyes but held out her hands. Percy grasped them and stood up. It was probably my imagination. No, it was definitely my imagination. I just thought their hands lingered with each other's longer than they had to. It was probably just my jealousy acting up. We walked out the restaurant and went straight to Annabeth's house, where she invited me.

"Percy, do you have your key?" Annabeth asked. "I forgot mine."

His eyes widened significantly.

"Wait, Annabeth Chase _forgot her keys_?"

"Shut up, Percy," she grumbled.

He flashed her a grin and said, "Of course I have my key."

He opened the door and we stepped in.

"We're home!" Annabeth called.

No response came. She frowned then snapped her fingers.

"They went to a party with the twins for one of their classmates."

Percy nodded and flopped himself down onto the couch. I sat opposite him, but sat neatly, unlike him. I was sure Annabeth would prefer if my feet were not in her couch. I still tried to make it look casual, though, as if I were over here a lot, though I wasn't in reality.

"I'm going to change my shirt. It's sticky from the ice cream," Annabeth announced.

"Wear whatever you want. I'm too lazy to pick out clothes for you," Percy said.

"I was going to, anyway," Annabeth grumbled and stalked off down the hall.

Percy was playing with his t-shirt and shuffling his feet like he couldn't keep still.

I took a deep breath and gathered up all the courage I had.

"Percy?" I asked. He turned his head and looked over at me, signalling for me to continue. "Do you like Annabeth?"


	4. Annabeth?

**A/N: SORRY ABIUT THAT LAST CLIFFHANGWR. HA! NO, NOT REALLY!**

**SEE WHAT I DID THERE? **

**P.S THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT. REMEMBER TO PM ME ANYBIDEAS**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PJO IN ANY WAY.**

Percy blinked. "What?"

I cleared my throat nervously. Where had that come from? I'd just been so curious, I blurted it out.

"I, uh," Percy and I said in unison.

We looked at each other with the same desperate look in our eyes that said: _Please don't make me finish that sentence. _The only problem was, I still hadn't the slightest idea what the answer to the question was—either of them.

"Do you?" I pressed on, hoping with all I had that he didn't snap on me. Wait, of course he didn't like Annabeth. They were best friends, right? They were too close. Yeah, that's it. I was only comforting myself. They were too close, unlike Annabeth and I, who were just close enough.

Percy opened his mouth to speak, but whatever he would have said, I' d never know. A loud crash came from upstairs and I heard a thud. I saw Annabeth race down the stair looking from me to Percy.

"Ben, you've got to leave," she told me.

"What?" I asked puzzled. Did she not want me here? Why did she invite me? Was something wrong? A million question popped into my head at once.

"Percy and I have something to, uh, fix?" She said it more like a question. "But I'll see you on Monday. It's Percy's first day of school, so I won't be walking with you guys."

She was jumping up and down anxiously, and she was talking rapidly, as if she had only so much time.

"Uh, okay," I said slowly. "I guess…I guess I'll see you on Monday."

She nodded and walked after me, shutting the door behind me. I didn't hear anything after that. The only thing I saw was Percy reach for a pen that was on the table asking Annabeth what it was. Then, the door stopped me from learning anything else.

The following Monday, Sara, Claire, James, Roger and I walked to school together. It was a bit weird not having Annabeth with us.

"Where's Annabeth?" Roger had asked.

"Oh, um, her dad dropped her and Percy to school this morning since it's his first day.

He nodded and we continued walking in silence until I broke it.

"Guys, I-I think there's something uo with those two."

"They're not dating, Ben, don't worry. I'm, like, an expert at that stiff. Though I can't tell if they like each other," Claire shot me a sympathetic look. "they definitely aren't dating."

"No, no. Not about that!" I felt my cheeks grow red. "I mean. It's just…Well, I sort of overheard one of their conversations. Did you guys know when Annabeth went to that camp of hers over the winter, she got kidnapped?" Their jaws went slack. "Turns out, Percy saved her, somehow. And, I don't know, there's something off about the both of them. Not that I don't like them or anything!" I added quickly. "They're my friends, but still."

"Woah, woah, woah. What do you mean 'she was kidnapped?" Sara asked.

"Exactly what I said."

"Maybe you heard wrong, or something," James suggested.

"I know what I heard! You have to believe me!"

They all seemed lost in thought for a minute.

"I believe you," Sara said quietly. "I love Percy and Annabeth, really. But there _is_ something a bit strange about them. You have to admit it."

"I guess you have a point…" James said.

"Let's talk about this later, guys," Roger shook his head. "I think we all need time to process this.

We walked into the school together in silence until Roger asked, "Don't you have to meet Annabeth at the library? Isn't it sort of 'your thing'?"

I smiled like a maniac. "I almost forgot! Thanks, Roger! See you guys later!" I exclaimed and ran towards the library.

When I arrived I looked around to see if she was there yet. I heard the faintest sound of turning pages towards the left. I quickly bud the librarian good morning and walked towards the sound, knowing it was her. No one else ever comes here, especially in the morning. Sure enough, I saw a tuft of blonde hair in the corner.

I walked up and opened my mouth to speak, but stopped myself immediately. Percy was sitting with her. At _our_ spot. His eyebrows were scrunched together as if he was focusing really hard. He was right next to Annabeth who had a smile on her face, amused at his confusion.

"So it'll be x=32."

"Right."

"You don't get it, do you?" she asked.

"Not even a little."

She laughed a little. "Come on, Percy you have to try. Will it be easier if I put it in Greek."

"I'm pretty sure this is just because I suck at math."

"Fine, we're done. But I get to tutor you at home."

"I'm pretty sure you would have tutored me, even if I was good at math," Percy grumbled. "I miss camp."

She sighed. "I miss it, too. I miss waking up to hear Katie scream at the Stolls. Or hear Clarisse fighting with Will all the time. I miss fighting. I miss Thalia. I miss Chiron. I miss everything."

"I know, wise girl, I know. This year's almost done. Then we can go back for an entire summer."

"As if we have that sort of luck. I haven't had a peaceful summer since you arrived."

"Gee, Annabeth."

"I didn't say I regretted it."

With each word, they studied each other more and more, until they were facing each other completely, staring into each other's eyes. I stormed off, not wanting to see anymore. It was too much. It was all too much. Why did I ever have to meet Percy Jackson?

I stormed back to Sara, Claire, Roger, and James.

"What's wrong?" James asked me.

"How much do you want to bet it has something to do with Percy and Annabeth?" Claire suggested.

"Shut up," I mumbled.

As if on cue, Percy and Annabeth walked out, but something was wrong. Annabeth's eyes were…red! Had she been crying? Why had she been crying? Why wasn't I there for her?

"Hey, guys," Percy yawned.

We all waved and threw out a bunch of 'hi's and 'hey's.

"Annabeth, what's wrong?" Of course, it was Sara who asked the more personal questions.

That seemed to be the last straw. Annabeth burst out in tears, which was extremely, _extremely _unlike her.

"Uh, you see…something happened to Annabeth and I last winter, and, um, she's sort of been holding it in. If you'll, uh, excuse us…" Percy stammered.

He dragged Annabeth, who had her hands over her face, over to a corner. I watched her hug him tightly and him return it, just as desperate. I saw him whisper to her, and watched her nod her head into his shirt. I watched her look at him with pleading grey eyes. I watched him wipe tears from her face and nod understandingly. I watched him grab her by her shoulders, stare into her eyes, and tell her something with the most serious face anyone could give. I watched him in envy. In jealousy.

"You should go, you know. I don't know if she'll accept it, but if it means that much to you, you should try," I heard Claire say.

I turned toward her. "What?"

"I know how much you like her. She's not the most welcoming person. But if you really want to, you should offer your help."

"You think?"

She shrugged, which didn't exactly help my confidence. I took a deep breath and walked over to them.

"Hey, Annabeth, is there, uh, anything I-we could do?"

She looked up at me, but I couldn't read her expression. She looked to Percy and some sort of understanding passed between them.

"She'll be fine, Ben. She just needs time."

"Time? For what?"

"Look, we appreciate your help, we just really, really don't want to talk about it."

"Oh, um okay."

I walked away, crestfallen. I walked past Sara, James and Claire and Roger. I walked straight to English class, not wanting to hear their sympathetic words.

Before I walked into class, I took one last look at Annabeth and Percy, who were sitting in the same corner, forcing a couple laughs and enjoying each other's presence.


	5. Percy

**A/N: I'LL MAKE THIS SHORT. THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS, SERIOUSLY. PM ME IDEAS, PLEASE IT'S APPRECIATED. I KNOW I TOOK LONG TO PUBLISH THIS, BUT IT'S EXTRA LONG SO, YOU KNOW. DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY.**

**DISCLAIMER. SIGH. IF I OWNED PJO, I WOULDN'T BE WRITING FANFICTIONS.**

Turns out, I had English with Percy and Annabeth, History with Annabeth and James, Elective by myself (wood shop), Greek with Percy and Annabeth, Math with Roger, Claire, Sara and James, and gym with everyone.

I was the first one to arrive at English class, so I got first choice at seats. I chose one at the back right corner of the classroom and waited. Eventually, the class filled up until there were two seats left between me and this girl named Lesley.

Our teacher walked into the classroom. She was really tall, had shoulder length black hair and a stern look on her face.

"Good morning, class. I'm—"

Percy and Annabeth rushed in through the door.

"Sorry!" they said in unison.

"I don't want to hear it!" the teacher snapped. "Just take a seat!"

They nodded quickly and sat beside me and Lesley.  
"Hey," Annabeth breathed as she sat down next to me.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Fine," she nodded.

Class begun and we stopped talking immediately. It went fine until our teacher, Mrs. Rodriguez, decided to pick on Percy for entering class late.

"Mr. Jackson, Ms. Chase, would you please read for me what I have on the board and answer question 1, 2 and 3."

They began to stutter nervously and their cheeks turned a bright red. My eyebrows furrowed. I knew Annabeth was dyslexic. Was it possible Percy was, too?

"We, uh…" Annabeth started.

"We're dyslexic," Percy finished.

"Are you now? I knew Ms. Chase was. Interesting…I suppose I shall give tutors to you both."

"No!" Annabeth exclaimed. "I mean, uh, we can work harder?" she tried.

"No, that won't help. You," she pointed to me, "and you. Help these two. Names?"

"Lesley."

"Ben."

"Well, Ben, help Annabeth. Lesley help, uh, name?"

"Percy. I'm new."

She nodded. "Very well. Lesley help Percy."

We nodded and the class ended soon after. Percy, Annabeth and I walked down the hall followed by Lesley awkwardly.

"Um, Percy?" Lesley asked in a really quiet voice.

He looked up and raised an eyebrow, gesturing for her to continue.

She cleared her throat. "When do you want to start?" she asked more confidently.

"Um…how's after school?"

She nodded.

"What do you guys have next?" I asked quickly.

"History," Annabeth answered, "with you and James, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Perce?"

"Uh, math," he said pulling out his schedule.

"Me, too," Lesley chimed in.

"Great, let's get going," Percy said.

He and Lesley strolled down the hall to class, leaving Annabeth and I alone.

"History should suck," I tell her with a smile.

She smiled back. "I actually find it interesting."

"Of course you do. You're Annabeth Chase. The most brilliant person alive!"

"Not necessarily," she joked.

We started laughing lightly and joked around until we got to History. It reminded of how things used to be before they got all complicated. So easy, so comfortable, so perfect.

"Guys!" James called out.

"Hey," we sang and took a seat on either side of him.

It passed in a breeze. Of course, Annabeth was the start student.

As we walked out class, James asked, "Geez, Annabeth. How do you do it?"

"Do what?" she asked.

"Get such grades. And you're not even a nerd. You're all cool!"

"Thanks? Comes naturally, I guess," she said smiling. "Well, I'm going to architecture! Bye!"

I rolled my eyes. She gets so excited over it.

"You really like her don't you?" I heard James ask.

I sighed and shook my head. "It's pointless."

"I wish you luck, Ben."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Yeah. I've got marine biology with Percy. Later!" He ran away leaving me alone. I walked quickly to wood shop and took my seat.

By the end of class, I was starving. I walked to my locker and put away my books. I started walking down the halls alone, but Annabeth caught up to me.

"How was architecture?" I asked.

"It was great! Not really challenging, but very interesting!" I watched her eyes light up and sighed. I wanted so badly to be able to out my arms around her shoulders.

"Is it just me, or is there even more people at the table today?" I questioned.

"Only one more….but who?" She stepped up on her tip-toes and stretched her neck to see over everyone's heads.

"I can't see," she sighed. "Let's just go."

We walked together over to our table to notice everyone laughing their heads off. The extra person turned out to be Lesley from English class.

"Oh, it's Lesley," I told Annabeth.

"What's she doing here?" she knitted her eyebrows.

"Percy probably invited her. Come on," I urges. She obliged, but I could have seen the gears turning in her head, trying to figure out who invited her.

"Hi," I threw myself down next to Sara.

"'Sup,?" she asked.

I rolled my eyes and nudged her shoulder.

"Hey," Annabeth grumbled as she sat next to Claire and across from me. She sat at the edge of the table. Claire sat between her and Percy, and Lesley was at the other end doing some hand game with Percy. I decided to ignore the fact that Annabeth was looking at them, and that her mold changed as soon as she saw them.

I sat across from her at the other end, beside Sara. James sat between her and Roger. Everyone threw lazy 'hi's over to us and continued whatever they were doing. Annabeth was joking around lazily with Claire who had a look of extra amusement in her eyes. Percy and Lesley were still entertaining themselves quite a bit, watched by an undescribable Annabeth.

Sara, James, Roger and I were in deep discussion about whether cats or dogs were better. When our incredibly serious conversation was over, James cried out, "Did you know…Percy is a BOSS at marine biology?"

"Wouldn't have guessed," I heard Annabeth grumble.

"It's true," Lesley nodded. "It's like he could understand the fish. He knew _exactly_ what they wanted. He was amazing!"

"I think he's part fish," James concluded.

At that part, Percy and Annabeth burst out laughing. It was hilarious laughter. Tears were flowing down their cheeks and they were clutching their stomachs, meanwhile we all watched them as if they were insane.

"S-Sorry!" Annabeth choked out in between breaths. "In-inside joke."

After _at least_ ten minutes of straight laughter, they calmed down.

"Soo…" Roger suggested.

"What now?" Lesley asked.

"Now, Lesley," Percy announced, "We—duck!"

Everyone looked as startled as me, except for Annabeth who dropped to the ground. As soon as they hit the ground, however, Percy stood up and caught what looked like an arrow that seemed to be moving at 300 miles per hour.

Percy's face broke into a huge grin. "Thalia!" he called earning a few glares from other students.

A tall, beautiful girl with striking blue eyes emerged from the shadows.

"Hey, Percy," she smiled.

Percy raced over to her and engulfed her in a huge hug. A bunch of thoughts flowed through my head. Maybe they were dating! Maybe he really didn't like Annabeth!

"Get off me, Kelp Head," I heard the girl say. "You're choking me."

"I missed you, Pinecone Face," he pouted.

Thalia playfully punched his shoulder and looked over to all of us.

"You've lost your touch, Annie. I thought you'd be first."

Annabeth seemed to be relieved from her shock and sprang up. Thalia opened up her arms and hugged Annabeth so tightly. Abruptly, she let go of her and looked at Percy.

"Has it happened yet? Has she cried? Is she still trying to be all brave?" she questioned him.

Percy gave her a warning look as if to tell her we were right here, and hearing everything, which made me mad. "This morning," he admitted.

"Food," she sighed.

"Thals, I—"

"No, Annabeth. It's natural. You had to. You held it in too long. I feel like a sound like Chiron."

"Shhh, Thalia!" she and Percy said in unison.

"Sorry, not used to it." She looked over at us. "You heard nothing."

Annabeth muttered, "Why do I bother?" and Percy fist bumped her.

"Guys," Percy announced, "This is Annabeth's second best friend—"

"_Second?_" Thalia raised an eyebrow.

"After me, of course," he said. "And also, my cousin, Thalia—"

"Just Thalia."

"Thalia Just Thalia."

We were all pretty much in shock, so I'm pretty sure we didn't give her the warmest greetings. So they were cousins. And Annabeth had yet another best friend that wasn't me. Great. Just great.

"Thals, this is Ben, Sara, James, Roger, Claire and that's Lesley," Annabeth said.

Suddenly, the bell rang. Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth had crestfallen looks on their face, though I was happy to leave.

"Let me guess," Percy muttered. "You're just passing by?"

"Yeah," Thalia sighed. "I'm sorry, I can't—"

"We get it," Percy grumbled. "It's fine."

"Hey, look, I'll ask for a break, and we'll call up Grover, and the four of us will be united again. The four musketeers?"

Annabeth smiled. "You forgot Nico."

"Oh, yeah, the other one," she joked.

"Your cousin won't be happy to hear that," Percy warned.

"Well, who's going to tell him?" Thalia glared at him.

Percy sunk back into his seat. "Not me for sure."

"That's what I thought," she winked.

"Um, Thalia? We've got to um…" a little girl came out from I-have-no-idea-where with what looked like fresh scratches on her face.

Thalia's eyes widened. "I gotta go, Perce, Annie. I'll IM you, kay?"

"Kay," they said half-heartedly.

She ran off with the little girl and disappeared. When I was sure they were gone, I asked, "What happened to her?"

"Nothing," Percy replied quickly. "Come on, let's head to Greek."

He stood up from the table and grabbed Annabeth's arm playfully.

"Get up," he groaned.

Annabeth pushed herself up and shrugged him off.

"I can't wait," Percy said excitedly. "Let's go, let's go!" he jumped up and down like a child.

He was about to drag her away when I jumped up.

"I've got Greek, too!" He glared at me, though I had no idea why.

Lesley sighed, "So do I. Guess we'd better leave now."

"Great!" Percy grinned and the four of us walked from the table to the hallways.

About halfway through, we heard a loud crash.

"What was that?" Lesley asked.

Annabeth and Percy exchanged a look.

"We'll be right back," Annabeth said. Percy reached into his pocket and got out a pen.

"You guys go ahead. We'll only be a couple minutes."

"Um…okay…"

Percy and Annabeth dashed around the corner saying something about expecting it sooner or later, whatever that meant.

"Well, you coming?" I heard Lesley say.

"Oh! Yeah!"

The two of us walked awkwardly and waited until our teacher arrived. He was tall, had blonde hair and bluish-grey eyes. Percy and Annaneth were, once again, late.

They burst through the door, Percy saying, "We had, uh, trouble—wait I thought it was supposed to be Will. Hey Mal." He held out his fist to our teacher, recently introduced as Mr. Malcolm.

"Hey, Perce!"

_What?_

"Malcolm!" Annabeth shrieked. She jumped into our teachers arms and hugged him tightly. "I haven't seen you in forever! How are things? Have we won any new honours? Ha—"

"Woah, woah, Annabeth, slow down. We have to talk after _class_."

"Oh, right! Sorry."

"So, why are you late?"

"You have to ask?"

He sighed. "Just sit."

To say I was lost was an understatement. How did Percy and Annabeth know our Greek teacher? How was it they got away with being late so easily—not that I wanted them to get into trouble.

"So, does anyone here know Greek in any way?"

Percy and Annabeth's hands shot up. Mr. Malcolm rolled his eyes.

"Alright, well can you—"

"Excuse me, Mr. Malcolm?" a girl named Veronica said.

"Yes?"

"How do you know them?"

"Not that it is any of your business, but Annabeth is my half-sister."

"And how come they got away with being late?"

"They had a good reason, which is none of your concern, thank you very much."

She scowled, but stopped asking questions. The class went on abnormally. Percy and Annabeth knew the answer to every single question. I expected it from Annabeth, but definitely not Percy.

Greek and Math went by in a blur. Before I knew it, it was time for gym. All 8 of us stood together chatting. We found out Lesley was actually pretty cool, and she fit in perfectly. Only Annabeth seemed a bit…distant. Yeah, that was the word. Our teacher, Coach Martin came in, and introduced himself.

"All right, for starters, I want you to run as many laps as you can around the track in 10 minutes. Go!"

We all started running together, but eventually Claire dropped out after 2 laps the most. Lesley kept a couple paces behind Roger, James and I. I cannot count how many times Percy and Annabeth passed everyone on the field.

At the end of the 10 minutes, the jock of the school had completed 7 laps. Percy and Annabeth managed 20. They finished laughing hysterically as if they wasted no energy running for so long. The others and I were panting and drenched in sweat.

"That felt good, actually running," Annabeth told Percy. "I've been holding back for so long."

"Yeah. It was a great warm up!"

_Warm up?_

The coach stared at them. "You-you broke the record."

"Wouldn't be the first," Percy stretched.

"Don't brag," Annabeth punched him.

I made a mental note to try and work out harder, but somehow I knew nothing would help. Beside me, Claire was jittering at how amazing they were.

"Cla-class dismissed," our amazed coach stuttered. "early today."

The eight of us changed off and walked out the school once we were dismissed.

I walked with Percy, Annabeth and Lesley since we had to tutor them. I hadn't noticed how serious I envied Percy until now. I wanted to have Annabeth and be her best friend. I wanted to have inside jokes with her and know her inside and out. It was walking home behind them speaking hushed tones and laughing loudly that I realized how much I wanted to be Percy Jackson.


	6. Spring Ball?

**A/N: I'VE GOT A FEW THINGS TO SAY.**

**FIRST. IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED, THIS IS SET BETWEEN TTC AND BOTL. I'M TRYING TO FOLLOW THE BOOK AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. THEREFORE, PERCY AND ANNABETH WON'T BE TOGETHER UNTIL TLO. BUT I WILL, OF COURSE, HAVE AS MUCH PERCABETH FLUFF AS NEEDED.**

**ALSO, THANKS POR LOS REVIEWS. ONCE AGAIN. I SERIOUSLY LOVE THEM.**

**UMM..PLEASE, PLEASE PM ME IDEAS. AND THEN I THINK THAT'S IT.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PJO IN ANY WAY.**

The school year went on. I found out Percy and Annabeth were absolute geniuses when it came to Greek. They knew anything and everything. In fact, a couple times they even left Mr. Malcolm los, but he never once doubted them. They said some stuff that I'd never even heard of. Like, Odysseus defeated the Cyclopes, Polyphemus, using trickery by calling himself 'nobody'. What I didn't know was that a second person defeated him using the same tactic.

They also topped the class in gym. Actually, they topped the school. Annabeth had always been great in gym, and I'd always figured she wasn't showing off what she could do completely, but they were _amazing._ In all my life, I've never met anyone as athletic as them. And they did it so effortlessly. Sometimes, the entire class was doubled over and soaked in sweat, and they would come back laughing and frowning at us as if they just did a little warm up. Of course, that made Percy an enemy. His name was Anthony and he's the school jock aka bully. He was used to the girls swooning over him and being the best of the best, so when Percy came along defeating by a couple (eight to be exact) laps, he was furious. Almost daily, he would try to beat up Percy, or at least make a fool of him, but for the first time in his life, he didn't succeed in doing that. It also didn't help that Percy had gained a couple of admirers along the way.

And, despite my jealousy, Percy and I actually became pretty close. We talked a lot, joked around, and once made the mistake of pulling a prank on Annabeth and Sara. Percy wanted to call two of his friends named Travis and Connor. He said they would be perfect, but I convinced him we'd be fine. I was _so _wrong. It wasn't just me and Percy, though. Our entire ' group ' became pretty close. In fact, the only time anyone ever felt left out was when Percy and Annabeth talked about camp, they fought about incomprehensible things, and Claire went on her lectures about beauty and make-up and then I stop listening.

One Friday afternoon, after school, we decided to go for frozen yogurt because, well, we wanted frozen yogurt. Anyway, Percy and Lesley couldn't come because, apparently, Lesley took her tutoring pretty seriously. As for me, I think Annabeth and I had one or two study sessions. She didn't really need it. As long as she was really focused, she could read fine, even with her dyslexia.

On our way back from the fro-yo shop, Claire suddenly stopped and screamed. We all abruptly stopped laughing from Roger's lame joke and stared at her.

"I left my purse!" she shrieked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Was there anything important in there?"

"Of course! All my make-up and…stuff. Someone come back with me!" she pouted and looked at us with pleading blue eyes, her dark hair framing her face.

"Fine," James and Roger replied at the exact same time.

They chuckled and stalked off with a frantic Claire following them.

"I don't know why she bothers," Annabeth sighed.

"I guess it's a little understandable," Sara reasoned.

"I hate make-up with everything I've got."

I stared at her, and somehow, that statement made me fall for her even more. You didn't find many girls who hated make-up. Yet, she was still amazingly beautiful. And I doubted she even brushed her hair.

"Well, are we just going to stand here?" I asked.

Sara laughed. "We can leave, can't we?"

"Leave?" Annabeth asked incredulously. "And leave our friends behind? Why, of _course_ we can!"

Sara and I burst out laughing, and we began our short journey to her house.

After about 5 minutes of walking, we arrived at Annabeth home. I was pretty comfortable there now. Ever since Percy moved in with her, I tried harder to be over there as much as possible.

"I seriously need to keep my key closer to me," Annabeth muttered.

Once, when this happened, I tried to hint that I wanted a key, like Percy had, but either she didn't get it, or pretended not to.

"Got it!"

She unlocked the door and the three of us stepped inside. Percy was sitting on the couch, looking pretty comfortable, thinking hard.

Lesley had her light brown hair up in a bun and was sitting on the opposite couch.

"The _prepositional phrase_," she was saying.

"Uh…to the movies?"

"Correct! Catch," she smiled and tossed a jelly bean into the air.  
Percy opened his mouth and dived to catch it. It fell straight into his mouth. Lesley laughed.

"You're getting better at that," she pointed.

"What? I'm always good!"

"Don't flatter yourself."

Annabeth studied them for a while, but tried to make it look casual. I knew her too long to know the gears in her head were turning.

"Hey, guys," she said casually. "Perce, I saw that. I've got to say, I did not expect that from a seaweed brain like yourself."

"Shut up, Annabeth," he teased. "How was fro-yo?"

"It was _sooo_ good," Sara rubbed in his face.

He sighed. "I wish I could have gone, but someone," he jabbed his finger toward Lesley, "is a buzz kill."

Lesley rolled her eyes. "Guess we're done for today."

Percy looked up like he was thanking God. Annabeth threw herself down opposite Percy, but on the same couch. Percy looked at her and lifted his feet and put them on her lap. Annabeth studied them for a moment, then looked back at Percy.

She raised an eyebrow and stared at him with a deathly glare until he got freaked out and put them back down. She proceeded to put her feet on Percy's lap. He tried to stare her down, but no one could win a staring contest with that girl.

She closed her eyes but as soon as she did, the doorbell rang.

She groaned. "Ben, you're standing. Get it."

I rolled my eyes, but walked over to the door and let in Claire, James and Roger.

"Miss us?" James asked.

"Not in the slightest."

He pouted at me. "I'll bet the other did."

"Don't get your hopes up."

We laughed and re-entered the living room where the girls were having a laughing fit at an upset Percy.

Claire went and sat next to Lesley and Sara. However, when Claire started talking about giving Lesley a manicure, she dashed over to Annabeth and sat with her. Roger and James raced over to the remaining two-person couch. I sighed and sat next to Percy at the other end of the couch.

"Hey, everyone here is going to the Spring Ball, right?" Claire asked.

We were nearing spring break and student council decided to throw a school dance.

"Yup," Roger said.

"Of course!" James exclaimed.

Sara shrugged, "Probably."

I glanced at Annabeth. "I'm not sure I say finally."

"Me neither," Lesley chimed in.

We all looked at Percy and Annabeth epxpectedly.

"NO!" they screamed.

Claire looked offended. "Why not?"

"Percy can't dance!" Annabeth said at the same time Percy exclaimed, "Annabeth can't dance!"

They burst in a hilarious state of laughter, sharing yet another mysterious memory and experience Annabeth and I never had.

They probably could have stayed like that all day, but we heard the lock click and the door open. A tall girl with blue eyes and auburn hair strolled in with a younger boy. His eyes seemed to tell a different story. They were filled with as much pain as Percy and Annabeth's, which I never understood.

"Silena?" Percy asked.

"Hello, Percy!" she squealed. "Annabeth!" she cried and ran to hug Annabeth.

Annabeth stood up and hugged her tightly. "What are you doing here? Not that I don't want to see you, this is great!"

"You can tell me hi, too," Percy pointed out.

Silena smiled a gorgeous, award winning smile. "Of course, Percy." She held out her arms and gave Percy a quick hug. "And Annabeth, I'm here on Mr. D's and Chiron's orders. They wanted someone to check on you guys. You have no idea how hard it was. Everyone wanted to see you guys. I had to compete with Katie, Travis, Connor, even Clarisse! Finally, I just grabbed Nico and made him bring me. You know—"

"Silena, shut up," Percy said.

"Why?" she looked at all of us. "Oh."

Percy cleared his throat. "Guys, this is Silena Baureguard. Silena, this is Ben, Lesley, Sara, Claire, James and Roger."

He pointed to each of us and tried to conceal a smile at James' and Roger's awestruck faces. I'll admit, she was drop dead gorgeous, but I still found Annabeth more beautiful.

"So," Claire said. "You know these two pretty well, huh?"

"I suppose," Silena said slowly.

"Well—"

"Shut up, Claire," Sara said. She nodded her head toward the boy behind her with black hair, eyes and clothes. "Who's the kid?"

_The kid _clenched his fist but Percy answered, "That's our friend, Nico."

"Oh."

"_Anyway_," Claire butted in. "By any chance would you know how we can convince them to go to the Spring Ball with us?"

Silena squealed so loudly I had to cover my ears. "_Of course! _Percy, Annabeth, if you two don't go to this dance, my cabin will give you a makeover this summer."

I started laughing along with Lesley. She wasn't serious. She was.

"I'm going to this dance!" Percy said with fake excitement.

Annabeth grumbled her agreement, but didn't argue.

"Well, Nico," she purred sweetly, "Since we're done here, would you _please_ take me to the mall."

Nico's eyes went wide. "Nuh-uh! No, Silena. I am never going to the mall with you or any of your demon sisters. I don't care what you say."

"But—"

"No."

"Fine."

"Nico, you impress me more and more every time I see you," Percy said.

Nico muttered something I couldn't comprehend. He grabbed Silena's hand, bid us an unfriendly goodbye and walked away.

"Isn't he too young to drive?" I asked Annabeth.

"So dance?" Percy interrupted so I wouldn't get an answer to that question.

"Well there are eight of us. Four boys, four girls. So how about we just go with each other?"

"I could live with that," Sara replied.

"All in agreement?" We all nodded and before anyone could take my chance I decided I _had _to ask Annabeth.

"Well, uh, Annabeth wanna go?"

I felt sort of bad when Annabeth's eyes flickered with disappointment and she looked at Percy (who for some reason was glaring at me) before she answered.

"Sure," she shrugged. It wasn't the answer I was hoping for, but at least she didn't say no.

Percy puffed out his chest and asked, "Well, Les, wanna come with me?"

"No." Percy mocked a hurt expression. She laughed. "Yeah, sure, Perce."

"So, then," James declared. "Which one of you lucky ladies get to go with me?"

"Theoretically speaking, seeing as more guys have asked me—eight—than girls have asked you—none—if I went with you, you would be lucky, not me," Claire announced.

"Is that a yes?"

"Whatever."

"Guess that leaves us," Roger blushed.

"I'm not going with you unless you ask," Sara said.

He groaned. "Please don't make me."

Sara raised an eyebrow. "Fine. Will you, Sara Barnes, do me the honour of going to the Spring Ball with me?"

"I'd love to," she giggled.

"So movie?" Percy asked.

Everyone mumbled a yes, so we popped in a movie. Our couch was a little crowded due to four of us being on it. I tried to pay attention to the movie, I really did, but it's a little hard when your crush is sitting one seat away from you, and keeps laughing with her best friend every five seconds.


	7. Spring Ball

**A/N: SO YOU GUYS GUESSED A LOT OF THINGS THAT I WAS GOING TO PUT IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. THEREFORE, I COMPLETELY CHANGED MY IDEA. I KNOW, PLOT TWIST.**

**ALSO, IT'S HARD TO REMEMBER ALL THE IDEAS FROM THE REVIEWS SO PLEASE PM THEM. **

**I THINK THAT'S IT. THANKS AGAIN FOR THE REVIEWS. I LOVE YOU GUYS.**

**DISCLAIMER: I WISH, I WISH WITH ALL MY HEART THAT I OWNED PJO. BUT I DON'T.**

"I'm tired of dancing!" Annabeth whined. She'd been sort of miserable all night, but not so miserable that we weren't having a good time.

In the background I could vaguely hear Percy and Lesley laughing, and I was pretty sure Annabeth was hearing them too. She claimed she was tired of dancing, but we'd only danced, like, two songs.

She wore a grey dress, of course. The top was bordered with sequins and hugged her abdomen, and the rest of the dress flowed down and reached her mid-thigh. She said Silena had picked it out for her, and she hated it, but I think she secretly loved the dress. Her hair was in a ponytail, but still tumbled a little off her shoulders.

I sighed at her pouting face. I honestly do not know how Percy ever won a fight with her.

"Fine. Let's go sit at that table then?"

"Yes, please." She sounded exasperated.

She grabbed my hand, to my delight, and swerved through dancing people to get to our table. We both threw ourselves down onto the seats. I looked around the place. It was crowded. All eight of us had come together, but we split up one way or the other. I saw Lesley and James dancing the night away, laughing at something James had said. I saw Roger and Sara standing in a corner awkwardly, but still talking. Then, when I looked more to the right, I saw Percy and Lesley doing what I think was a dance.

Lesley wore a black high-waisted skirt and a tucked in white blouse with sleeves that reached her mid-shoulder. She looked good, but, you know, not Annabeth-good. Annabeth was right, Percy really was horrible at dancing, but he seemed to be enjoying himself just the same.

"I'm sorry you're not having a good time," I told Annabeth who slouched in her chair twirling the hem of her dress.

She looked up at me with sympathetic eyes. "No, Ben. I am. Well. Um. I'm sorry for ruining your night. I just really, really hate dances."

I knitted my eyebrows when her eyes flashed over to Lesley. "But this is the first school dance you've come to. What other dance have you gone to?"

"Oh, uh, it wasn't for this school. It was over the winter. Percy, Thalia, Nico and our other friend Grover went."

"Oh. I thought you hated dances."

"It's sort of the reason I do."

"…"

She sighed, "I'm being awful, aren't I?"

"No, it's fine."

"I'm sorry. I just have really horrible memories there."

I tried desperately to change the subject. "So how did you predict Percy was such a horrible dancer?

She smiled faintly as if remembering what had happened. "I had to dance with him."

I clench my jaw tight to stop myself from screaming. Percy was my good friend, but I still had a spark of jealousy there.

"Oh. Had to?"

"He was the only person I knew. Thalia was dancing with Grover."

"What about Nico?"

"I hadn't met him yet. Actually, it was there that we met him."

"Sounds like you guys do everything together."

"We used to. Then Thalia and Grover and…I'd rather not talk about it, please."

"No problem."

We sat there in an awkward silence for a while, Annabeth still pouting as if she wasn't having a food time. I don't doubt she wasn't. Then I noticed Percy jab at Lesley and point over to where I'm sitting. He smiles and half-waves. I wave back. He motions for Lesley to follow him and makes his way over to our table. I noticed Annabeth tense when she saw him.

"'Sup, guys?" he greeted.

"Hey, Perce," I said. "Hey, Les," I shoved her lightly and she shot me a playful glare.

Percy slid into the seat next to Annabeth and Lesley next to me.

"So, how's your night really going?" she whispered to me.

I shrugged. "It's okay."

She smiled at me sympathetically as if she knew something I didn't. I was a little worried by that. We turned our attention to Percy and Annabeth who weren't having an all-that-great conversation (which was actually pretty normal).

Percy poked her. "Come on, Annie."

"_Don't call me that, Percy!"_

"Annie, Annie, Annie," he sang, oblivious to the fact that he was mad.

"For all the gods' sake, Percy!" Annabeth screamed jumping up from her chair. I wondered what she meant by 'All the gods'. But the music was so loud, I think the only people who noticed were Sara and Roger who pointed at us, but made no attempt to come forward. I saw Claire grab James' hand and point to us. She started to walk towards us, but James pulled her hand back and shook his head.

I looked at Lesley, and I think both of us wished we could trade places with them instead of being in the middle of it all.

Percy flinched and started to regret teasing her.

"Why can't you just," she continued, "Listen to me for once and _leave me alone!_"

Percy's expression changed from guilt to anger. "Will you stop screaming at me?" he screamed. "That's all you ever do! You criticize me for _every little thing! _Don't you think it gets a little annoying for me?" She tried to speak, but Percy beat her to it. "Oh, and I'll bet you'd just _love_ for me to leave you alone, huh? I bet that's all you've ever wanted. Your life would have been _so _much better without me!"

"Oh my gods, Percy! You _know _that's not true. Are you just saying that because you want me to say it? Do you want me to say where I'd be if I haven't met you? And, I always have a reason to get mad at you! Do you think I do it for fun?"

"Well, for one, you'd be with Luke!" There was that Luke person again. I wondered what he had to do with all of this. "I bet you think that if I hadn't gone to Camp, he'd still be butterflies and sunshine. Well, sorry I showed up," he spat.

"That's not—"

"_Don't say it's not true_!" He practically screamed. By now, he was getting a few glares from a couple other students. "I saw your wish! Your 'greatest aspiration'. Your mom, dad, Luke, Thalia. _That's _what you really want! You didn't see mine, but I can assure you that if you did, you would have seen yourself there!"

"Percy, I was thirteen! It had only been one year! "

"Yeah, well now, you're fourteen and it's been two years."

"Exactly! Who says my 'greatest aspiration' hasn't changed?"

"Don't tell me it did, because I know it didn't. I know if he comes here right now surrendering and saying sorry, you'd forgive him. You'd just love to have things back to the way it was _before I came_. Because that's what it was! Your 'greatest aspiration' was to have things back to the way it was _before I came."_

"Not after what happened last winter, Percy. I would never trust him again!"

To my surprise, Percy laughed. "I would have thought after what he did to me, to us when we were twelve, you wouldn't trust him again. Yet, he was your 'greatest aspiration'. I would have thought after he used us to find you-know-what, you wouldn't trust him again. Yet, you took the weight from him. _What's next?_ Can't you see he doesn't care about you?"

"Well, he used to, Percy! That makes all the difference. Can't you stop hating him for one minute to imagine what it's like for me? He _promised _me. I was seven."

"Don't try and make me feel bad for you, because I will _never_ see him as good. I'm sorry you met me, Annabeth. Honestly. Because, maybe, this is all my fault. If I had never showed up, you'd still have him, maybe even Thalia. But you know what? Until now, I had never once had second thoughts about meeting you!"

Annabeth opened her mouth to respond, but snapped it back shut. Her gaze dropped to the floor. Normally, when they fight and one of them does this, the other backs down and they say sorry and laugh about something else. But this time, Percy's eyes still blazed with fury and something else I didn't recognize.

"You say you always have a reason to get mad at me," Percy said through gritted teeth as though trying to keep his anger in check. "So what's your reason now?"

Annabeth's eyes filled with tears. She looked up at Percy and whispered something I didn't hear. She stormed off, leaving Percy even angrier than he was before. The last time I saw her, she was slamming the door shut, her grey dress swaying behind her.

Percy kicked the chair so hard I would have broken my foot. Me and Lesley exchanged looks with each other. This wasn't how one of their fights were supposed to end. The other four came up to us and asked a question with their eyes. _What just happened?_ I wish I knew the answer.

"Percy," James tried.

Percy held up his hand and shook his head. I noticed his eyes were red, too. He walked away from the table leaving the six of us alone.

"Someone has to follow them before they commit murder," Claire said.

"I have Percy," I surprised myself by saying.

"I should follow Annabeth," Lesley said quietly.

I got up and raced in the direction Percy went. I found him walking outside, but it wasn't towards Annabeth's. I was going to call out to him when I saw him take a turn down a dark alley. I approached cautiously, and saw him stand over a figure that was on the ground, hugging her knees and crying. He looked at Annabeth as if not knowing what to do with her.

Lesley ran up beside me and breathed, "She came this way."

I held up my hand to quiet her and pointed. She squinted her eyes to make out what I was seeing. Percy moved to sit beside her. He leaned his head back against the wall and sighed. To my surprise, he wiped a tear away from his cheek.

He put a hand on Annabeth's shoulder and whispered something, but I was too far away to hear.

"Do you not get that I do need you?" Annabeth questioned him.

"I-I don't know. I'm so sorry, Wise Girl. I don't know where all of that came from. I'm stupid. I know how touchy this topic is, but I still bring it up."

Annabeth didn't answer. she just put her head on his shoulder.

"Thank you for saving me," she said finally.

"Thank you for saving me."

"It's my job."

"And I wouldn't have anyone else doing it."

"Neither would I."


	8. Goodbye

**A/N: SORRY I TOOK SO LONG OMGS I WENT TO CANCUN AND HAD NO WIFI**

**THEN THERE IS THE FACT THAT BOO CAME OUT. I'M DONE BUT NO SPOILERS BUT IF ANYONE WANTS TO BE DEPRESSED WITH ME PM ME ANYTIME.**

**ANYWAY, HERE'S YOUR CHAPTER**

**DISCLAIMER: IF I OWNED PJO, I WOULD NEVER MAKE THE SERIES END. A CERTAIN AUTHOR HAD DIFFERENT IDEAS.**

We walked out of school on the last day, enjoying the beginning of a new summer. I breathed in the fresh scent of summer air and exhaled. The day was perfect, I was with my best friends, what could go wrong?

We had all become considerably close. I mean _seriously close_. As far as I knew, the eight of us were the closest you could get. We didn't do anything without each other and didn't dream of doing so (although, this made Anthony, the bully, hate us and Percy even more). Since the big fight, one word could describe us: inseparable. No one talked about it much for fear of it bringing back some of the feelings from that night, but no one forgot it. I'm not sure exactly how Percy and Annabeth became 'best friends' once again. Before I could watch more of what had happened that night, Lesley elbowed me and looked at me with an expression that said: _We shouldn't be watching this._ Sadly, I knew she was right.

We walked back to the dance together, and told Claire, James, Roger and Sara what happened. We silently agreed it was their biggest fight, and when we saw them the next day (they never returned to the dance), they acted normally…or as normal as it gets with those two.

Claire's words snapped me out of my thoughts. "We'll go to the water parks, for Percy of course. We'll visit the museum to amuse Annabeth and Ben. We'll go to the mall. We'll just stay home sometimes to please Les, since she hates going out. Arcade for Roger and James. And tons more! This will be the best," she turned her gaze to Sara.

Sara rolled her eyes but continued the sentence, "Summer." She looked at Lesley.

"Ever!"

Annabeth stopped walking and kicked at her feet. Percy looked at us guiltily, not meeting our eyes. I wondered what was wrong with them.

"I'm not doing it, and you can't make me," he told Annabeth.

She looked at him with pleading grey eyes. "I _really_ don't want to, Percy. Please?"

I wondered what they were talking about, but it didn't matter. If I was in Percy's place, I would have done anything for Annabeth.

"No." I was shocked at the fact that he could say no to her.

Annabeth sighed. "Guys, um…Percy and I are leaving."

I'm pretty sure mine was not the only jaw that dropped.

"To where, may I ask?" Roger said.

"Camp, of course. I go there every summer, you know that. And a couple of years ago, Percy started so he's coming, too."

"You say that like you remember what it was like without me."

"I'm pretty sure no one can forget."

"When are you leaving?" Lesley asked before they could start yet another ridiculous fight.

Percy scratched his head. "Well, I'm not so good at math, but I think it's in 2 hours."

My eyes widen significantly along with my friends'.

"_Two hours?"_ Sara screeched.

"Guys, guys, calm down! Percy, Annabeth, I guess for like a week or so, we can all ask our parents and we can visit your famous camp."

"Um, no," Annabeth said.

"No?"

"No, you can't," Percy finished. "You guys, well, you wouldn't be allowed." He said it like he didn't want us there, which left a feeling of anger boiling inside of me.

"Well then stay!" James tried to persuade them. "How long are you staying for, anyway?"

Percy whistled. "As long as possible."

"What do you mean?"

"He means," Annabeth butted in, "that camp is both of our favourite place in the world, so we probably won't come back until we _have _to."

"That's what I meant."

"So you'll be gone the whole summer. We can't even do anything today! Did you even think about us? You know, it'll be funner here!" Claire started blabbering around. "I mean, what can you possibly do at a summer camp that's better than water parks and museums."

The pair started laughing. "Camp is, no doubt, the coolest place in the world. It's like a water park and museum and many other things in one. It might be dangerous, but I love it," Percy told us.

"Dangerous?" someone asked, but I was too shocked by the outcome of things to notice who spoke. There I was, thinking everything would be perfect. Just dandy! That now the eight of us were inseparable, I could try to be Annabeth's best friends again. What could possibly go wrong, Ben? _The fact that she and Percy probably have way better lives than to deal with you._

"And wouldn't you much rather be here with your best friends?" someone asked.

Percy and Annabeth both pretended to ignore the first question. Percy, being the oblivious and slow one didn't understand.

"All of our best friends are at camp." Annabeth elbowed him in the stomach, but the words were already said. It was pretty obvious everyone was offended and hurt. As if they'd been cheated on; used. Annabeth's face was evident that she felt bad about what Percy said, but it was true. Meanwhile, Percy was blushing furiously trying to take back what he had just said.

As for me? I didn't know what to feel. We all stood there frozen in shock. You're probably thinking we were overreacting. They'd only be gone for the summer. But we didn't know how dangerous that camp was. It was dangerous. We knew that. Percy had just admitted it and from what Les and I heard throughout the days, we had no idea if our friends would truly come back. I mean, Annabeth had been _kidnapped_ over the winter when she visited her camp. Who said something wouldn't happen again. Something worse.

"Where'd you get those?" Claire asked abruptly. Everyone looked as startled as I felt.

"Get what?" Annabeth replied.

"Those grey streaks in your hair. We've all been wondering it, thinking it was dyed, but it's not. I could just…tell." I had no doubt Claire would be able to figure that out. She was an absolute genius when it came to anything to do with hair, make-up or fashion.

"We, uh, that's not important," Annabeth stammered. "Why don't be just spend the next hour or so hanging out? My place?" I could tell she was trying to clear the air, so I decided to help her.

"Yeah, we'd love to. Let's go, guys."

I looked at all my friends trying to encourage them to follow my lead and not make Annabeth and Percy feel worse.

"Yeah!" Lesley finally came to my rescue. "Let's get moving!" She was the first to start walking.

We walked there in silence, which as usually okay. Normally, we were fine in each other's presence, but now there was some sort of tension in the air.

We had decided on truth or dare. So that was what we were playing half an hour later in the Chase's living room. I had a flashback to when I was sitting there in January and I first met Percy Jackson. I remembered how I despised him. It was when I thought he had stolen my best friend from me…but then I realized she was never my best friend to begin with. Now, I couldn't imagine Percy without Annabeth. It just seemed _wrong_. But Annabeth without Percy? A couple visions came to mind.

"So…" James was saying trying to think of a question to ask Annabeth. "I got it! You say you never see your mom and that she left when you were born. But have you ever met her?"

I rolled my eyes lightly, already knowing the answer to his question. No. Annabeth's mom had never shown the slightest interest in her, which made Annabeth feel bad. I wish I could assure her that n =o matter what, I would be there for her.

"Couple times, actually."

My head shot up and I was suddenly alert. I actually thought her mom was dead. Annabeth had never told me anything.

"Really?" I questioned.

She shrugged. "It wasn't anything special. Just small talk. But yes, I have."

I tensed. How could her mother do that? Abandon her for her whole life, then only have 'small talk'. Something about that wasn't correct. I was pretty sure Annabeth was the only person to have seen her alive. Mr. Chase rarely talked about her, but when he did, he did it in the past tense.

The others' eyes lit up, as if having a million backup questions for her.

"Woah, woah," Percy interrupted the questions making a timeout sign with his hands. "Her mother is nothing you want to learn about. Trust me. The less you know the better."

"What s that supposed to mean, Jackson?"

"It means that I've met your mom." Of course he did. What has he _not _done? "I don't think she's ever said one nice thing to me."

"My mother is the best mother ever."

Percy raised his eyebrows and gestured to himself. "After Sally," she corrected.

"But Annabeth," I said, "If you've only met her a couple times, how could you think she's so good?"

"Because I know why and I understand why. I don't want to live with her, that would be hell. But I really do love her."

This was the most I'd heard of Annabeth's mom ever, so to say I was surprised was an understatement. I noticed that Percy and Annabeth were more fidget-y than usual. They seemed really excited about something. I found out what about too soon.

Just then, I heard a loud thud on the door and heard it come crashing down.

"Oops," a voice said. "Hey, Annie, someone from Cabin eleven **(A/N: I think this is the Hephaestus cabin)** is going to have to fix your door."

Annabeth's eyes glittered with amusement, and I wondered how since someone just broke down her door.

"That's why I'm here, you idiot," another voice said.

Then they came into the living room. There were three guys. Two identical ones who had blue and mischievous-filled eyes. The third was taller and more muscular. He had a strong build and looked like he was the one who ripped off the door.

"Sorry I had to bring those two," the taller one nodded his head towards the twins. "Mr. D's orders. Percy, I have a message for you from him. Don't destroy the camp, Peter Johnson. That's pretty much the jist of it."

Percy laughed. "I missed the old guy." He laughed harder. "Not really."

They all laughed before Percy and Annabeth surged over and hugged their friends. Well, Annabeth did. I'm not sure what Percy and other guys were doing.

One of the twins cleared his throat and nodded towards us, as if asking what we were doing here. Like we were the ones that weren't supposed to be here; like we were the ones who just broke down her door.

"Oh, right!" Annabeth said. "These are a couple of our mortal friends. Ben, James, Sara, Les, Roger and that's Claire.

"Guys, these are more of our friends from camp! This is Connor," she pointed to one of the twins. "That's his brother Travis. No, they're not twins. And this is Beckendorf."

We waved towards her friends awkwardly, but showed minimum friendliness. These were the people who were taking two of our best friends away from us. We certainly did not want to fit in with that bunch.

Travis eyed us. "So these are the guys that stole you from us during the school year."

Mine and Roger's eyes blazed with fury. _We _stole from _them?_

"Aw, come on," Percy said, "I know you miss me, but I've got to be shared, Trav." He clapped Travis on the back, who looked at Percy like he was crazy for suggesting he'd missed him.

"Well," Connor said slowly, "I guess now would be the time to tell you I broke the door."

I blinked. _He _had broken the door? I didn't even wanted to figure out how that was possible. Either way, Annabeth would probably be so angry she'd kick him out. And her parents! Oh, this was going to be good.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Connor, you _always_ break the door. I—"

"TRAVIS! CONNOR!" I heard the twins scream, barrelling down the stairs.

"STOLL JUNIORS!" they yelled back.

The four of them raced towards each other, pulled out a notepad each and started exchanging notes on God-knows-what. I saw the remaining three exchange looks. They seemed afraid of something.

"This is not going to be good," Beckendorf muttered.

"Nuh-uh."

"Guys, we should leave. We drove here. No support from Nico."

Percy and Annabeth nodded eagerly, but I couldn't tell if it was because they were excited or because they wanted to stop the Stolls and the twins from talking. The remaining six of us exchanged looks and silently agreed to something. We had to tell them how we felt about the camp. Maybe then, they would listen to us and stay.

"Guys, um…" Sara started.

"We don't think you should go to your camp!" I blurted out before I could stop myself.

I was a little shocked that their faces hadn't changed, as if they didn't care what we thought.

"And why not?"

"Because," James said looking at Lesley who did not seemed pleased at the outburst, so she ignored him. James realized she wouldn't be helping us and finished, "Annabeth, we know you were kidnapped! It's not safe for either of you there, and it's not fair for Percy to risk his life to save you!"

Roger jumped in, "We care about you guys, and don't like the idea of you going back there. You seem to have bad memories there. We don't even know why you go there!"

Les raised her eyebrows and muttered, "we?" She looked at the faces of our two friends (who did not seem happy) and raised her hands. "I'm not in this," she said simply and sat down. So much for her support.

"Anyway," Claire stated, "Obviously, camp isn't safe, just stay and—"

At this point Percy, Annabeth, Beckendorf, Travis and Connor burst out in a fit of laughter. Even the twins seemed amused.

"I'm sorry," Connor said putting his hands on Claire's shoulder. "What did you say?"

Claire seemed astounded. "That it's not safe—"

"No, no," Travis said. "It's safe."

Beckendorf nodded in agreement. "It's just that since this one showed up," he nodded at Percy, "these two have a hobby of getting the worst luck."

"As for me getting kidnapped," all the amusement leaked from Annabeth's eyes, "forget about it."

Percy, sensing the argument grabbed Lesley and hugged her. "Bye," he said. "See you when we come back. Don't worry about us, okay? We'll be…fine." That didn't seem like much of a promise, but Lesley smiled.

"Bye, Perce."

Percy and Annabeth exchanged hugs with all of, even though we were still reluctant to let them go. Travis and Connor said some touching words to the twins and Beckendorf talked awkwardly to Annabeth's parents. It felt strangely reassuring that not everyone from camp knew the family inside-out.

Annabeth hugged me last and I held her tightly. "I'll miss you," I whispered.

"I'll miss you too." She laughed lightly.

Percy came up and ruined our first little moment. I felt that twinge of anger and resentment again at that moment. He lay his hand on her shoulder.

"Well, Wise Girl. Ready to go home?"

Annabeth looked up at him and smiled brighter than I'd ever seen.

"You have absolutely no idea." And they left.


	9. Their Return

**A/N: I KNOW LOTS OFYOU THOUGHT THE STORY WAS DONE, BUT I DON'T INTEND TO FINISH THIS UNTIL AFTER THE TITAN WAR, SO I SHOULDN'T BE FINISHING ANY TIME SOON. *WINK, WINK***

**THANKS AGAIN FOR THE REVIEWS. IT HONESTLY MEANS SO MUCH TO ME! OH AND ONE MORE THING. I'LL BE POSTING A ONE-SHOT SOME TIME SOON AS WELL, SO KEEP CHECKING. I'M REALLY NOT SURE HOW GOOD IT IS, SO I'D APPRECIATE IF YOU COULD READ IT. **

**DISCLAIMER: I HATE DOING THIS. I DO NOT, IN ANY WAY, OWN PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS.**

Ben's POV

I was starting to worry, now. School was starting tomorrow and Percy and Annabeth hadn't returned yet. How long did a summer camp really take? Maybe they were kidnapped again, or something even worse! I admit, the worst case scenarios were running through my head, but could you blame me? We hadn't seen our friends for almost three months. They didn't call, write or anything. How fun could a summer camp really be? As a matter, shouldn't a summer camp end before summer did?

"I think that one's a bunny," James' voice jarred me back into reality. James, Roger, Les, Claire, Sara and I were lying down on a huge picnic blanket looking at the clouds to get our minds off our friends, but, though neither of us would admit it, I doubt it was working for any one of us. I knew we shouldn't have let them go back to that stupid camp. They just seemed so excited…so reassured to be going back there. We couldn't ruin that for them.

In fact, we tried to, but they wouldn't listen. They didn't want to listen. They didn't care what we had to say about it, they were going with or without our 'approval'.

"How could you possibly see that?" Lesley and Roger asked in unison.

"Yeah," Sara said. "It's obviously a dog."

"I think both of you are blind," Claire butted in.

"What do you see, Ben?"

I tilted my head and studied the cloud we'd been discussing. "I don't know," I started slowly. "I'll go with Sara."

"I'm taking you to the eye doctor to get your eyes checked," Claire spit out.

I rolled my eyes but didn't answer my friend. There was no use. The only thing I could think of right now were Percy and Annabeth…especially Annabeth. I'll admit, I might still have a tiny crush on her. And I was worried sick. She goes to camp every summer, but never returns this late. Then, I remembered last year's events. The coming of Percy Jackson and I learned that the best friend I thought I knew inside and out, I didn't really know at all. I remembered hating Percy Jackson. I remembered wishing I'd never see him again. Now, I'd give anything to see him and my crush again. I remembered hearing that she had been kidnapped; that Percy had saved her. What if…No. I couldn't afford to think like that. Though I was sure I wasn't the only one of my six friends.

"I can't do this," Claire whispered so quietly I was surprised I could hear her.

"Me neither," I breathed out.

"They'll be back. They have to come back," Sara comforted us.

"But they don't," Roger stated. "It's pretty obvious they love that stupid camp and their friends more than they care about us. I mean, we told them how we felt about it and they didn't even consider. And we don't know anything about them. Those two…they're not normal. They have too many secrets for us to handle."

James sighed. "He's right. Kidnapped. She was kidnapped. We told her we knew. We told her we were worried. She said to forget about it. It's nothing. Don't worry." He shook his head. "I don't see how we can—I don't see how they can pretend nothing happened. What if something worse has happened. What if—"

"Stop it!" Lesley screeched, standing up. "I'm not going to lie down here listening to you talk about our friends like their aliens! I get that they have secrets, but we all have secrets. I don't know what you're going to do about their 'disappearance', but I'm going to talk to their parents!"

"Lesley, sit down," Claire said suddenly.

"What? I—?"

"Lesley, _sit down_," Sara said now, more urgently.

Reluctantly, Claire sat back down, still looking angry. I frowned. "But why—?"

"Look!" James pointed to the far end of the park where four figures were strolling along the edges.

I squinted my eyes to see the far distance and gasped. 2 of the people were Percy and Annabeth, smiling and laughing as if they had no worries, as if they had no friends to call up. There was also a tall-ish boy wearing a rasta cap and long jeans and converse. The final guy looked more like a truck. He was _really_ tall and muscular. His hands were bruised and he had scars all over.

"What is that?" Claire asked.

"Claire, don't be mean," Sara said.

"A call would have been nice," James grumbled.

"Well, let's go! We're not just staying here, are we?" Lesley retorted.

So we all jumped up from our positions and crept around the other side of the park so that they wouldn't see us. We walked over by a big tree and stood by it, hiding our faces and listening intently as the four walked past.

They were laughing loudly. They all looked so elated and comfortable with each other I almost felt bad for invading their privacy…almost. Annabeth looked as beautiful as ever. Her hair was piled up onto her head and she wore a pair of black skinny jeans and an orange tank top. Meanwhile, Percy had on khaki shorts and a green t-shirt. His hair was messy from the wind and his green eyes sparkled. Although I hated it, I felt jealous instantly.

"I'm going to miss you guys," the one in the rasta cap was saying.

"We'll miss you too, G-Man," Percy responded while clapping him on the back.

"Hey, guys," Annabeth interrupted. "I know what happened this summer was dangerous, but can I say, it felt so good to do it with you guys again. I missed you."

The big guy clapped his hands. "Yay, friends!" he cheered.

They all started laughing again, but it died down quickly into an eerie silence. "It wasn't all good," G-Man said. "Perce, you scared us, man. And Tyson, don't cry, big guy Not again."

Tyson wiped at his eyes, but Annabeth tensed up at –Man's words. "Percy seems to like doing that," Annabeth grumbled.

"Hey! Grover, why did you have to bring it up? Look, guys, I didn't ask to go…"

"Go where?" Annabeth questioned.

Percy looked away with a faraway look in his eyes as if remembering something. He shook his head lightly and muttered, "Just forget it."

I smirked. I actually felt satisfied with that answer. Maybe Annabeth would know how it felt, but I still wondered what had happened this summer that had them so shaken up.

The other guys, Grover and Tyson exchanged looks. They seemed worried and frightened about what might come of the two, but I wasn't sure why. If they were really that close to them, they would know Percy and Annabeth fought all the time. However, when I thought about it, the pair did seem more cautious of each other. In the last year that I'd known them, they'd seemed really comfortable with each other. Now—not that they didn't seem comfortable—they had no contact at all. They wouldn't meet each other's gaze. It was as if something worse had happened.

"Forget it," Annabeth repeated. "Were you able to 'forget' what happened to me, Percy, because this is a million times worse! I was kidnapped, but at least you knew I was alive. At least you had somewhere to go, something to follow!

"Perseus Jackson, for _two weeks _I heard nothing. I had no dream, nothing! You didn't contact me, or anyone for that matter! I thought you were dead!" Her voice cracked but she still forced herself to continue. She shook her head. "I hated you, Percy, I hated you! You were so stupid!"

"Stupid? Annabeth, it was the only way! Or we would have all—" He took a deep breath. "I told you, I was lost."

Annabeth threw up her hands in frustration and looked at Grover and Tyson. "Did you hear that? He was lost! The great, mighty Perseus Jackson got lost on his way home and decided that for two weeks he would wander about on his own, without telling any of his friends or family. But, you know, maybe he thought no one would care. That no one would l=think anything negative. I mean, what could happen to someone missing for two weeks. Nothing serious, I'm sure." Her voice dripped with exasperated sarcasm.

Percy clenched and unclenched his fist as if contemplating what to say next. "I came back as soon as I could have! I _chose _to come back!"

"From where?"

"The island, Gods!"

I had no idea what he meant, but obviously Annabeth did. Her eyes blazed with fury. Her jaw tensed. Grover and Tyson stepped forward.

"Brother, stop fighting," Tyson told Percy. I blinked. Brother? Percy had said he had no siblings. But at this point, at the rate they'd been lying, I wouldn't be surprised if he had hundreds of brothers.

"Annabeth, come on. Percy didn't decide where he wanted to go, okay? And he came back, so—"

It was then I realized Annabeth was crying. She wiped her eyes furiously with the backs of her hands.

"Whatever," she muttered. "I'm done. He could have stayed with her for all I care. He should have stayed with her, then we could have avoided the whole 'Big Th—"

"You don't mean that, Annabeth," Grover told her.

"You don't know that!" she snapped back, her eyes still red.

Tyson butted in. "You-you wouldn't miss Percy?"

"Tyson, I—"

"She doesn't mean it, Tyson. She's just mad."

"I don't care if she means it!" Percy screamed. "Yeah, I could have stayed! I was _offered_ to stay! Maybe I was tempted to stay! _But I came back!_"

"Stop it!" Tyson screamed loudly, covering his hears from his own racket.

I looked at five of my friends, who seemed as frightened and confused as I felt. I held back the resentment I felt towards my friends at that moment. We were always so lost with them. They had better friends, better everything without us, we didn't know anything about them! I was tired of having to eavesdrop to just barely understand something about their life they wouldn't explain to us either way. Honestly, I would have jumped out of our 'hiding spot' right then and there, but something stopped me. It wasn't until later that I realized it was Lesley's hand.

I heard Grover's voice say, "All you two do is fight! You know, I'd think it gets tired for you, but I think it's more tiring for us! It is all you do!" He ranted on and on about their fight, but honestly, I wasn't listening.

Roger shook his head and James held up his hands in surrender. Claire studied all of us, as if asking for our approval before she did it. She walked out, her wedged tennis shoes clomping along behind her. The five of us followed her nervously. Percy and Annabeth's faces went pale and they looked so surprised, I was satisfied. Claire stopped in front of Grover and Annabeth. She looked at Annabeth, then turned around so she could see Percy, but kept her distance from Tyson. Her eyes flashed with fury.

"Thanks for calling us," she said in a fake, cheery tone. "We weren't worried about you at all!" she sounded exasperated.

"Claire, we—"

Claire held up her hand. "Save it."

She walked away, leaving the five of us with our mouths open in shock. She turned around when she noticed we weren't following.

"Are you coming?"

I looked at Percy and Annabeth, at their guilty faces. I looked at their friends and thought of all the resentment I held against them secretly. I loved them, yet hated them.

I stepped away from Roger, Lesley, Sara and James and walked to Claire. The others took this as clarification. They walked towards Claire and I, and I let out a sigh of relief, knowing they were still on our side. Only Lesley seemed to have doubts. She walked to us, but in an uneasy fashion. When passing Percy and Annabeth, she looked at both of them and whispered something, but I was too far to hear.

Percy's face looked stricken with guilt, and I was filled with curiosity, wondering what she told him to leave him with that reaction. Before we walked away, I looked at them one last time, but the worst part of it was, they weren't even looking at us. They were conversing in hushed tones. Percy and Annabeth still seemed uncomfortable but they weren't fighting anymore. Somehow, that sight made me even angrier. And this time, I felt no guilt walking away.


	10. Jealous Much?

**A/N: I feel like this isn't too good. I'm going to try to write better, I've just been busy this week and I sort of rushed to update. But here's your chapter. I hope it's not as bad as I think. Thanks for the reviews though, guys, and for those of you waiting for Percabeth: It won't be until later in the story, after the Titan War. **

**Disclaimer: No way in Hades I own PJO**

One day. One day later, they decided to talk to us. After us racing to James' house and ranting furiously about how angry we were, we basically sat down at around his dining room table staring at our phones waiting for them to call. No such luck. I don't know what we were even waiting for. Percy and Annabeth didn't even _own _cell phones. When we asked them why, they just said they had no need for it. Other than us, they had no one they had no one to contact. None of their _other _friends had cell phones either. At least they had considered us in that occasion.

Anyway, even after we gave up and returned to our respective houses they didn't call. No calls, no texts, no messages, nothing. It wasn't until the next morning at school after we got our schedules for the upcoming school year that we started talking again. Even then it was a bit awkward.

Lesley, Sara and I had walked in the office together, Sara chatting away about how her little brother, Jake, had broken his arm by jumping off his roof. From across the room we saw Claire, James and Roger already conversing about their schedules. They motioned us over, but we gestured to the lady at the front desk to show them that we hadn't gotten our schedules yet. They nodded quickly, telling us that they'd wait for us.

Lesley and Sara got their schedules first, comparing it. I walked up to get mine. It looked like:

**Mathematics**

**Greek**

**Free Period**

**English**

**Lunch**

**Physical Education**

**Elective (Woodshop)**

We moved over to our other three friends who bustled around with us, comparing schedules. I had Math with Claire and Sara, Greek with Lesley, Free Period with everyone, English with Claire and Lesley, Lunch with everyone, PE with everyone and my elective alone.

We were about to walk to our first class when we saw Percy and Annabeth shuffle into the room, walking up to the receptionist. A lump formed in my throat when I saw Annabeth. It had been the longest I'd ever gone without seeing her. Her blonde hair shaped her face perfectly and her grey eyes stood out among all others. She had on blue-green skinny jeans and a loose white lace blouse. That seemed to be dressed up enough to her, though because she topped it all off with written on converse.

My gaze moved to Percy. His eyes were glittering with amusement. He had on jeans, tennis and a white t-shirt that had doodles all over them. The bottom was signature ' R.E.D. ' When I looked closer, I saw the pockets of his jeans were doodled on by the same artist.

I moved my eyes back to Annabeth and hers met mine. She nudged Percy with her elbow and nodded over to us. Percy scratched his head and waved to us awkwardly. I'm not sure who waved back, but obviously somebody did because he smiled and walked over to us as soon as he had gotten his schedule.

"Uh, hey guys," Percy said uneasily.

Lesley cleared her throat. It was _her _who had waved them over.

"Hi Percy! Annabeth, oh my gosh, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!" Lesley said brightly; she sounded _nothing _like the real Lesley, and everyone knew it. She hugged Annabeth tightly, while Annabeth patted her back awkwardly, obviously confused as to why she was acting so bright.

When none of us followed her example, she stepped toward Percy and wrapped him in an even bigger hug—if that was even possible. Percy hugged her back quickly, but let go just as fast. Annabeth noticed that Lesley was trying to break the awkwardness, so she stepped towards me and studied me for a moment. I felt uncomfortable under her gaze, but remained firm. I mean, if (and my chances were getting slimmer and slimmer) we were to get together, I couldn't exactly be uncomfortable around her. That thought sort of puzzled me because I had never been so uncomfortable around Annabeth before. It was the main reason why I liked her so much.

"Are you going to tell me hi?" she asked me, looking at me curiously. I was vaguely aware of James and Roger's chuckles at my speechlessness.

"Hi," I said flashing a smile. To my delight, Annabeth smiled back and hugged me. I hugged her back tightly, inhaling the scent of her shampoo.

"I missed you," I teased, pushing her slightly. She looked as if she was going to reply, but didn't because Claire cleared her throat and held out her arms.

That was probably the signal or breaking point, or something, because then all of us started laughing and conversing, hugging Percy and Annabeth. I sighed contentedly. It was all back to normal, now.

"What's your schedules?" Sara asked after the noise died down.

"Oh, uh, here," Annabeth said showing us hers and Percy's. I didn't even bother to ask why she held Percy's schedule. It would only get me upset.

I had Math with Percy, Greek with Percy and Annabeth, Free Period with none of them, English with none of them, Lunch with both of them, PE with both of them and my elective with none of them. I'd be doing another full year of my elective alone.

"Hey, Percy? What's with your, uh, attractive drawings you have on your shirt, there?" Claire asked him questioningly. Beside me Annabeth stiffened, but said nothing.

"Oh. My friend from New York likes to draw and we sort of spent some time with her over the summer, I guess," he stuttered the ending as if he weren't sure if they'd spent time with her or not.

"I wouldn't call it 'spending time with her.' As I recall, it wasn't all that fun," Annabeth said coldly.

Percy sighed. "I don't know why you don't like her. She's really not all that bad."

Annabeth rolled her eyes but decided not to answer him. I was about to ask more about Percy's mystery friend, but just then the bell rang. On cue, Percy, Claire, Sara and I walked to our math class together.

**Line Break**

Percy was sleeping within the first five minutes of class. We started with introductions of ourselves and our teacher, Mrs. Ruez, had done an icebreaker involving math, and by then Percy was drooling on his desk. Claire gagged whilst Sara took pictures of him. To be honest, if it weren't for Claire and Sara making me laugh every minute, I'd probably be sleeping too. Mrs. Ruez was so boring. Although I'd never admit that in front of Annabeth. That might ruin any chance I had with her.

When the bell rang, Percy and I shifted over to Greek meeting Annabeth and Lesley on the way. I walked into class, not knowing what to expect, but definitely not what I got.

Mr. Malcolm was there again, though last year I don't recall him being there all year. It was a bit fuzzy, but I couldn't seem to remember him being there for the whole school year. I was probably going crazy, though, because Percy and Annabeth greeted him normally. Annabeth hugged him while Percy said something to annoy him. Then they'd share some stupid inside joke before Mr. Malcolm made everyone sit down.

Honestly, Greek was horrible. Percy and Annabeth kept talking and blushing and Mr. Malcolm did nothing about it. Like, when he asked about the great sorceress, Circe, Percy said, "What makes you think she's so great?"

Annabeth added, "Yeah. I mean, what if she turned people into—I don't know—guinea pigs, or something?" I rolled my eyes. She was beginning to sound like Percy, now.

Percy blushed furiously when she said that while Annabeth laughed at him, muttering something under her breath. Mr. Malcolm did nothing but looked at them disapprovingly, and even then he seemed amused at their behaviour. You could only imagine how relieved I was when the bell rang.

Lesley and I left Percy and Annabeth in the hall, moving over to our free period with the others. I whistled slightly. "Was that class only weird for me?"

Lesley laughed shakily. "They have a weird obsession for Greek mythology, that's all."

I shook my head. "I wonder if we'll ever figure those two out."

"I highly doubt that. They're too secret. I mean, come on, we know they're hiding something what with Annabeth being kidnapped. Obviously there's something weird going on in their lives, but they won't tell us. And, frankly, I think you guys trying to 'guilt trip' them into telling you is really mean. You guys should give them their privacy. It's not like you don't have secrets." She shot me an accusing look.

I remembered all those times we tried to stand up against Percy and Annabeth and how Lesley had willingly stepped out of the fight and watched in the corner. "I'm not saying I don't have secrets. We all know I do. But they're secrets shouldn't be secrets. Think about it, Les. If Annabeth was kidnapped it shouldn't have been Percy gone to rescue her," I resisted the urge to say it was me that should have saved her. "Someone has to know these things. And we _told _them that we know she got kidnapped. Yet they still won't tell us! They can't seriously just expect us to forget something like that!"

"Exactly! They won't tell you! Which means they don't want you to know! You should respect that. All of you should. You have no idea how hard it probably is for them."

"But we're their friends—"

"If you haven't noticed, Benjamin, we're not the only friends they have."

"Of course I've noticed! For years I thought I was Annabeth's best friend, that I knew everything about her. Don't you think I noticed when Percy just showed up and just like that she was gone? Of course I notice all those other weird people that have keys to her house that, and I don't doubt this, know everything about what happened when she was kidnapped!"

Lesley just shook her head in surrender. "Fine. Do what you want."

It wasn't until lunch that I saw them again, and things didn't turn out the way we had expected them to. Once again, the great duo was fighting. They stormed into the cafeteria, screaming at each other and looking like they wanted to pull their hair out.

They threw themselves down at our table, not even bothering to give us so much as a second glance.

"I already told you where I went!" Percy screamed, his voice rising.

"Oh, yeah!" Annabeth said sarcastically, "The perfect island," she said with a fake dreamy look on her face. "The one where all your dreams come true! Tell me, Percy why didn't you stay there. You could have avoided everything, and still been with her!"

"She offered me to stay, Annabeth! I wanted to stay, Annabeth. It was hard, Annabeth. _But I came back, Annabeth._"

"_Why?_ If it was so perfect—she was so perfect—why? Since you just had to tell me all about it—"

"I didn't tell you all about it! You overheard me talking to Grover! Or should I say you eavesdropped on me and Grover?"

"I wasn't eavesdropping! I overheard! But that's beside the point! You still haven't told me why, Perseus Jackson. Why didn't you stay on the perfect paradise—free from everything, with your perfect girl?"

"_Because I'm in—"_

She held up her hands quickly. "You know what? Don't answer it! I don't care why you came back! Because for all I care, you could go back to your island and garden with your girlfriend!"

She stormed out of the room, leaving a more than furious Percy, and more confused friends. I didn't understand half of what was happening, but I knew one thing for certain:

Over the summer, Percy had gone away. He had met a girl, a 'perfect girl', and Annabeth Chase was jealous.


	11. Not-so-nice to meet you!

**A/N: IT'S BEEN A WEEK AND CHANGE. SORRY I'M JUST UPDATING. I SORT OF RUSHED TO FINISH THIS CHAPTER DUE TO HOMEWORK. YEAH, I KNOW.**

**ANYWAY, THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS. I REALLY APPRECIATE THEM, I'M NOT JUST SAYING THAT. AS ALWAYS, IF YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS AT ALL, PLEASE PM ME INSTEAD OF REVIEWING THEM. THAT WAY IT'S EASIER FOR ME, AND WE CAN MAYBE CONVERSE ABOUT DEVELOPING THE IDEA.**

**FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVEN'T NOTICED, THE TIME CHANGED FROM AFTER TTC TO AFTER BOTL. I THINK THAT'S IT!**

**DISCLAIMER: I'M AS GOOD OF A WRITER AS RICK, SO I DON'T OWN PJO.**

"Come on! Let's go, let's go, let's _go!" _Percy exclaimed, pulling Lesley's hand and trying to run.

"Percy, calm down. We have to wait for her to come out." Claire rolled her eyes.

"You know," Roger said, "I've never seen a teenager as excited to see his mother as Percy is."

"That's because you've never met Percy's mom before," Annabeth added.

"She's the best! Plus, she makes the _best _cookies!" Percy nodded.

"Well, not the best, but a very close second," Annabeth smirked. I smiled at how much Annabeth loved her step-mom, especially after for a while, she hated her guts.

Percy rolled his eyes. "Please, Wise Girl. Your mother is horrible!" He looked up to the sky and dodged Annabeth's hand from slapping him. "Sorry, sorry, sorry!" he said, missing Annabeth's glare, but looking up to the sky.

James and I exchanged looks. How could Percy say that about Mrs. Chase after all she's done for him? How could he say that in front of Annabeth?

"My mother is _not _horrible!"

"Not to you maybe, but you should hear the things she tells me!" He started speaking in a high-pitched voice, as if imitating Annabeth's mom. "You are a danger to my daughter and her family; You stupid boy; Why don't we kill him?; Stay away from my daughter!" At the imitation he stopped short, just realizing what he had just said.

Annabeth flushed and looked away, not saying anything. It was funny. Mrs. Chase would never say any of those things Percy just did.

Voicing my thoughts, Sara said, "How could you say that about Mrs. Chase?"

Percy's eyes widened. "Oh, no, no, no! Not Helen! Annabeth's _real _mom!"

I nearly spit out the water I'd been drinking. Percy _met _Annabeth's real mom? I thought she'd disappeared!

"Woah, woah, time out," James put one hand over the other signalling a time-out. "Annabeth, I thought your mom left you on your dad's doorstep and abandoned you guys."

Annabeth shot Percy a look and he mouthed, _Sorry_. "Well, that's sort of true. She did leave me with my dad and step-mom, but I never said I hadn't met her. I see her sometimes, mostly during the summer when I go to camp."

"And Percy's met her?"

"More than once, actually. Don't feel bad, it's not something you want on your bucket list."

"Percy!"

"Sorry, Annabeth, but she hates my guts, and I'm supposed to say _nice _stuff about her?"

"Just stop talking about her! Please!"

"Okay, okay. _What_ on earth is taking that woman so long?" He said looking around the airport for his mother, Sally Jackson.

"Percy, be patient," Roger fake scolded.

_"__Percy, be patient," _he mocked. "There she is! There she is!" Percy Jackson, a fifteen year old boy was bouncing on his feet with joy for his mother. Normally, teenagers _hid _from their parents. Then again, Percy was not exactly normal.

I turned around and saw a woman in her mid-thirties with long curly brown hair and warm hazel brown eyes walk toward us lugging a suitcase behind her. Percy rushed forward. "Mom!" he cried wrapping her in a huge hug.

Mrs. Jackson smiled, which made small crinkles in the corner f her eyes. "Percy. I'm so glad to see you. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mom. How's Paul?"

"He's okay. He's sorry he couldn't make it, he had a lot of papers to check. And he really wanted to come see you."

Percy's shoulder sagged. "So I made dad get 2 tickets for nothing?"

"Well, I wouldn't say that," she winked at his puzzled face. She and Percy walked back to the rest of us ad smiled.

"Annabeth!" Mrs. Jackson exclaimed, smiling.

"Sally! It's so good to see you!" Annabeth hugged her tightly.

"You too, dear. Oh, look how much you've grown!"

Annabeth flushed and turned to the rest of us. "These are our friends—"

"_I _want to do the introductions, Annabeth!" Percy complained. His mom's eyes sparkled with amusement.

"And what if I do them?"

"Then, I'll—I'll—"

"Exactly."

"Oh, I've missed the sound of you too bickering, but stop it!"

"Yes, mom," Percy said obediently. "Mom, this is Lesley, James, Ben, Roger, Claire and Sara. School friends."

"Are any of them—"

"Nope."

"Can either of them—"

"Nope."

I didn't know how he understood that, and what she wanted to know about us, but she seemed satisfied.

"Well, let's go, Mom. You're staying with Helen and Frederick, right?"

"Oh, no Percy, I can't."

"But why? It's just you. We have space. You can have my bed. I'll sleep on the ground." I marvelled at the way Percy loved his mom. That was definitely at least one of the things I admired about him.

"That's the thing—"

Just then, another figure emerged from the entrance and made her wa toward us.

"Sally, did you find them? Oh, there they are," a red headed, green eyed girl said. "Hey, guys."

"Rachel!" Percy exclaimed. He ran to her and hugged her. She returned the hug just as tightly.

"Hey, Kelp Head." She smiled. "Hi, Annabeth."

Without much enthusiasm, she replied, "Rachel…you came! Perfect."

** ψ**

If there was one thing I'd learned in an hour that I spent with my friends and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, it was that Annabeth definitely did not like her. Whatever Rachel did to her…I'm not sure, but it had to be something bad. I don't think Rachel liked her very much either, but she did a much better job at hiding it than Annabeth did.

"—so then, when I got home, turns out my parents _did _realize I was missing for, like, a week. So thanks a lot guys, for getting me into trouble."

I heard Annabeth mutter, _Yeah, well. I didn't ask you to come._

I inwardly smirked at her attitude. If nothing else, she knew what she wanted…or didn't want in this case. And that was to hang out with Rachel.

We continued swerving through the afternoon crowd of the mall, trying to find a good place to eat.

"Can you stop talking for a minute so we can actually choose a place to eat?" James complained.

"Yeah, Rach, slow down," Percy teased.

She stuck her tongue out at him, but shut up for the first time since she arrived in San Francisco. She stopped in the middle of the mall, causing a few glares from passersby, but she didn't move.

"Rachel, now is _not _the time, just move already!"

"Shh, Annabeth, I hear something." She closed her eyes and held up her fingers lost in thought.

Annabeth groaned. "Not again."

Percy sent us an amused look, but he didn't look weirded out,or upset at Rachel. He looked 100% comfortable.

Rachel snapped her fingers. "This way. Come on."

And she made her way to swerve through the people milling about the mall. Confusedly, the rest of us had no choice but to follow her throughout the mall. Annabeth grumbled the entire way, so I grabbed her hand and, with a deep breath, pulled her behind me.

Rachel stopped in front of a Japanese restaurant and breathed in slowly.

"Mmm," she smiled, "Sushi."

Percy busted out laughing at Rachel's antics along with James and Roger. Annabeth rolled her eyes and folded her arms; Lesley, Claire and Sara chuckled but said nothing. I just stood there awkwardly, not wanting to laugh and get on Annabeth's bad side, too.

"Well," Lesley said weakly, "Are we going to eat, or what?"

"Eat!" Percy cried. Laughing, the nine of us walked into the restaurant.

** ψ**

Walking out of the ice cream store, each of us holding our respective ice cream cone, we ran into a little bit of trouble. Remember a while ago, I mentioned a school bully who hated Percy due to his excellence in PE? Yeah, well, we ran into him.

"Well, well, well," he drawled. "If it isn't Prissy Jackson."

"Hey!" he protested. "Only Clarisse can call me that!" Annabeth raised an eyebrow, but stayed silent.

Anthony looked puzzled, but didn't let it bother him. "Tell me. How much did you pay these lovely ladies to be your friends?" He winked in Claire's direction, who gagged.

"He doesn't have to pay us anything, you—"

"Woah, there," Percy grabbed his friend's hand. "Calm down, Rachel. I don't care what he thinks."

Rachel humphed and folded her arms. "Why don't you leave us alone, Anthony?" Percy sighed.

"Hmm, let me think. Because I don't feel like, Jackson! That a good enough reason?" He stepped up into Percy's face.

Percy made a face. "When last did you brush your teeth, man?"

Anthony fumed. "I am going to kill you, Jackson."

"You wouldn't believe how many times I've heard that."

"And you're still alive?"

"Freaky, right?"

Beside me, Annabeth snickered, though I wasn't sure why. Sure, he was good at PE, but I doubted he could hold his ground against Anthony and his goons.

Anthony held up his fist and aimed directly for Percy's face. I winced, not wanting to see Percy's black eye. I didn't have to. He ducked down and grabbed Anthony's arm. A very confused Anthony tried to pull away, but Percy had him in a lock.

"Don't try me, Marin," Percy growled.

Pulling his hand out of Percy's grasp, Anthony turned his direction to Rachel.

"Who's this chick?"

"Not someone you want to mess with."

He held up his hands, but winked at her. "You can ask for my number later. I don't want your boyfriend to see you cheating on him."

Percy frowned. "I'm not her boyfriend," he said cocking his head to the side.

"Oh, yeah, forgot, it was that Lesley loser."

Lesley flushed and swallowed. I figured she'd never handled bully all that well. I remembered about a year ago, the fragile, quiet Lesley that had been paired up with Percy to tutor him. It seemed so long ago. I had forgotten all about that Lesley.

"What? Neither is Lesley." He shook his head. "Look, Lesley is _not _my girlfriend, and never will be. We're just friends. So leave her out of this."

Anthony looked about to reply, but a girl came out from the bathroom behind him.

"Anthony!" she shrieked. "Let's go already!"

She peered around Anthony's body frame and saw Percy Jackson.

"Oh, hello there," she stepped around Anthony, but sensing what was coming, he put an arm around her shoulder.

"Come on, babe. I was just leaving."

The girl pouted, but allowed him to steer her away from us. Before he walked away, he turned around, and, behind his girlfriend's back, winked at Annabeth.

When they left, Rachel said, "That was disgusting. You do that every day at school? Huh. Annabeth, I haven't given you and Percy enough credit."

"You never have."

Ignoring that comment, she continued, "It must kill you too. You know, more than usual."

Through the corner of my eye, I saw Claire whisper something to Sara, looking pointedly at Lesley.

"Excuse me," Lesley said quietly, reminding me again of the 'old Lesley.' "I have to use the bathroom."

She walked quickly to the bathroom, and I thought I heard her sniffle, but dismissed it quickly.

"I'm going with her," Claire said.

"So am I," Sara added.

I rolled my eyes at girls' need to go to the bathroom together.

"So," Rachel started conversation yet again. "what now?"

Finishing my ice cream cone, I said, "I'm going to follow the girls and go to the bathroom."

Snickering, James and Roger said, "I'll go too!"

"No. Stop being idiots."

They mocked hurt, but followed me anyway. I'm pretty sure Annabeth was not happy with us for leaving her with Percy and Rachel, but I couldn't do anything about it now.

The three of us walked silently to the bathroom, passing the female's one in order to get to the male's. However, I heard something while passing the female's one.

I stopped Roger and James and gestured for them to listen. We paused by the door and heard the girls talking.

"Don't cry, Les," Sara said.

"Yeah, Lesley," Claire added. "I know it's hard. I can tell, but don't worry about it, please."

Lesley cried, "I know, I shouldn't, but I can't help it. I hate it, I hate it I hate that I do. I try _so _hard not to, but—"

"I get it, Les," Claire said. "It's easy to fall in love with Percy Jackson."


	12. Oops

**A/N: HELLO AGAIN, WONDERFUL PEOPLE! SORRY, I'M IN A GOOD MOOD TODAY. ANYWAY, I FORGOT TO MENTION IN MY LAST A/N THAT YES, 2 CHAPTERS BEFORE, PERCY WAS ABOUT TO TELL ANNABETH HE LOVED HER, BUT SHE INTERRUPTED HIM. OOPS.**

**SO, HERE'S YOUR CHAPTER. I ENDED THIS ONE A BIT DIFFERENT FROM HOW I NORMALLY DO, BUT I DON'T THINK IT'S THAT BAD. THANKS ONCE AGAIN FOR YOUR REVIEWS; THEY REALLY ENCOURAGE ME TO WRITE MORE. OKAY, THIS IS LONG ENOUGH. HOPE YOU LIKE IT!**

**DISCLAIMER: DO I LOOK LIKE I COULD WRITE AS AMAZING A BOOK AS UNCLE RICK CAN? DIDN'T THINK SO.**

"We shouldn't be listening to this," I muttered to two of my closest friends, who were standing beside me, eyes wide, jaws hanging open.

"Yeah, we shouldn't," Roger answered finally.

Still, the three of us stayed rooted to where we were, unable to move. Looking back on it, I'm not sure why we were as surprised as we were. Percy was the first one out of all our friends who made Lesley feel welcome, even when Annabeth didn't seem to like her. They did spend a lot of time together last year due to Lesley's tutoring Percy. She never fought with us against him and Annabeth; she was always on his side, it just always seemed friendly. He made her laugh all the time, and she had that look of hurt in her eyes when Percy had said she would never be his girlfriend. It made perfect sense.

I shook my head. "Guys. Guys, we should move," I sputtered.

They nodded uneasily and the three of us walked back to the boys' bathroom. It was as if the bathroom woke us up, because as soon as we stepped in there, we were out of our trance-like state.

James laughed nervously. "How come everyone always falls in love with Percy? I mean, what's wrong with me?"

I clapped his back in mock sympathy. "I'm sorry, man. He's a natural ladies man."

James shot me a sarcastic look and muttered, "I thought you had to use the bathroom."

I knitted my eyebrows. "Oh, yeah. Be right back."

James and Roger snickered as I turned my back to them. I didn't hear them, but I knew them both well enough to know they were discussing how they hadn't noticed it before.

I walked back towards them and told them quickly that we had better get going. We were probably gone, like, 10 minutes. It was better not to give them reason to get suspicious. We walked out the bathroom fast enough, but quickened our pace as we past the girls' one.

"What were you guys _doing_ in there. It's been," Rachel checked her watch, "_Nine_ whole minutes."

I rolled my eyes while the other 2 boys laughed at her dramatic action.

"Do you think the girls have _died _in there?" Percy asked impatiently.

"Be patient, Percy," Annabeth and I said in unison. She looked at me and laughed at the coincidence. I felt myself flush at the attention, and when I thought about it, Annabeth and I rarely hung out anymore—since, of course, Percy came.

We used to do something every weekend, sometimes with our friends, but most of the time it was just the two of us. I remembered it was one of the main things that made me believe Annabeth felt the same way about me as I feel about her. Inwardly, I sighed. That seemed like forever ago. Sure, Percy was a good friend of mine, but I can't help but wonder what it would be like if he had never come.

Now especially, everything seemed to be falling apart. Roger and Sara have the most obvious crush on the other, and have had one since last Spring Ball. I was pretty sure James like Claire, but she was so beautiful and attracted so much attention, I doubted she even noticed it.

Then comes the hard part. I had a hopeless crush on Annabeth Chase, who I was almost 100% sure I never had a chance with. Lesley was apparently in love with Percy who couldn't take a hint to save his life. To top it off, Percy and Annabeth seemed to be at each other's throats in an odd way. It wasn't like before. Somehow, it seemed different. There were times when their eyes would meet, and they got lost in the other's eyes, as if remembering some sort of painful memory. At first look, they would look, well (and this is _extremely _hard for me to say), in love.

But I knew better. I knew both of them long enough to know how they felt about each other. They were best friends. Yeah, that was it. Anyway, to add even more, Rachel had a crush on Percy. It was obvious. She wasn't afraid to hide anything, I could tell. She said what she thought. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but it wasn't my place to decide so. Percy also seemed like he might like her back, but, honestly, I wasn't sure. It could have just been my wishful thinking. It just seemed weird, considering she was the artist for all of his written on clothing.

Claire, Sara and Lesley walked out of the bathroom, snapping me right out of my thoughts.

"Hey, guys," Sara began. "Lesley's not feeling too good. Claire and I will walk her home; it's not far from here."

Roger, James and I exchanged looks, but we kept our mouths shut.

Percy frowned, probably not making Lesley feel any better. "Aw, man. My Mom was going to treat us to dinner. You sure you don't want to come, Les?"

Looking away, Lesley shook her head, probably not trusting her voice.

"Well, that's fine, I guess," Annabeth said, shaking some blonde curls out of her face. "But if you're not coming, the rest of us had better get going. We don't want to keep Sally waiting."

"Have fun," Claire said really not-enthusiastically.

"Thanks! We will! Bye, hope you feel better, Lesley," Rachel exclaimed, not sensing that anything was wrong.

Percy laughed heartily. "Calm down, Rach."

Rachel shut down completely and stood perfectly still.

Annabeth groaned. "Not this _again._ Rachel, this really isn't the time. We need to leave and you are _not _standing there for 5 minutes without moving again." I shook my head. Percy and Annabeth's friends were _weird_.

Rachel made no attempt to move until Percy sighed. "Well, I guess we're leaving, guys. Rachel isn't going to move any time soon and I wouldn't want to keep my mom waiting. Let's—"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" Rachel exclaimed, exasperated.

Percy smiled and winked at her. "Gotcha."

"Well, we're leaving now! Bye!" Claire said really fast. Lesley was probably getting more uncomfortable.

"Well, let's hit the road. I guess it's just us, now."

So Percy, Rachel, Annabeth, James, Roger and I walked out the mall joking and laughing like the close friends we are.

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

We met Percy's Mom outside a restaurant I'd never seen before, which I found weird since I'd lived in San Francisco all my life. I shrugged it off and greeted Percy's mother.

She wore a blue jacket over a white t-shirt and denim jeans. It wasn't the most fancy outfit, so I decided it ran in the family. Or maybe it was just a thing with Percy's friends. He and Annabeth hardly wore dressy clothes, and, though I'd only known Rachel for a day, I couldn't even picture her wear a dress.

"Hello, Mrs. Jackson," I said politely.

She smiles warmly at me, James and Roger because they had greeted her before me.

"Hey, Sally," Annabeth said. It was polite, but also friendly and casual.

"Hi, Annabeth. It's nice to see you again, dear."

"I saw you this morning!"

"Oh, I know, but you left soon after!"

Annabeth laughed and hugged Percy's mom. The features on her face clearly showed that she thought of her as a second mom. Or third, I wasn't exactly sure.

"Hey, Mrs. J," Rachel muttered.

"Rachel, I told you—"

"Okay, okay. Sally," she corrected herself.

Percy pouted beside me. "Best for last?" he asked.

"Sure, honey," She hugged her son, but winked at Annabeth and Rachel behind his back.

All of us giggled, while Percy turned around with a puzzled look on his face, probably wondering why we were laughing.

"Why are you laughing?" he asked confirming my thoughts.

"Oh, it's nothing, Percy. Come on, kids. Let's go eat!" Sally exclaimed ushering us into the weird restaurant.

We were about to walk inside when we heard a loud crash. We turned around quickly, Percy's hand flying to his pocket for some strange reason. However, we had no reason to worry. It was just a little poodle who seemed lost and knocked down a trash can.

"Aw, the poor poodle is lost," I said moving towards it.

"Don'!" Rachel cried after me, pulling my hand so I would stop walking. I turned and looked at her confusingly. Her eyes seemed filled with worry, though I had not the slightest clue why. "It could have rabies or something. Trust me, you do not want to go near that thing."

"But," Annabeth said with a surprisingly calm and comforting voice, "Percy and I can get it. No offense, but we stand a better chance at getting it. Don't we, Seaweed Brain?" Annabeth jabbed her elbow into Percy's stomach.

Percy seemed confused and scratched his head, trying to figure out what we were talking about.

"_Right,_ Percy?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, right. Totally."

I shook my head. Meet Percy Jackson, the greatest hero known to the earth (please, note the sarcasm). His eyes met his mother's brown ones. I wondered where he got his sparkling green eyes from. His mother's were a beautiful hazel brown.

"Kids," Mrs. Jackson said turning to us. "How about we go inside? Percy and Annabeth will, er, save the poodle. Come along, now."

Before she pushed us inside, Mrs. Jackson turned to look at the pair who were whispering and pointing at the poodle. They seemed to be devising a strategy, but why they were doing so for a lost poodle, I would never know.

"Hurry. Be safe," I thought I heard her whisper, but dismissed it. There was no way Percy's mom was so afraid of her son snatching a poodle away. She touched my back lightly and ushered me inside of the restaurant. The last thing I saw was Percy taking out a ballpoint pen—I have absolutely no idea why—and looking longingly at Annabeth, who had her back to him and was sneaking around the poodle. He seemed to just stare at her for a moment before turning the other way, distracting the dog. Then the door shut behind me.

ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ

"What's taking them so long?" Roger asked Mrs. Jackson. "It's just a small little dog!"

"Yeah, um," Mrs. Jackson checked her watch nervously. "It has been quite a while since they left. What do you think Rachel?"

"I think the dog probably had rabies."

Mrs. Jackson looked at her amusedly before turning her head back to us. "They'll be back soon, I'm sure. Then we can eat."

I had to admit, I saw what Annabeth and Percy were talking about. Mrs. Jackson was amazingly awesome. She was funny, caring, kind and passionate. She seemed just the sort of person who would care for the poodle and take it under her arms to give it a safe place.

Then they came in. I don't know how else to describe it but _it was awful._ They had scratch marks on their arms and faces, their clothes were torn and they were breathing raggedly. Apart from all that, they were smiling and laughing, just like they had when Percy had first arrived. That is, except for when their swinging arms brushed against the other's, they would jump away and blush.

They sat themselves down beside of us as if nothing had happened.

"What _happened_ to you?" James asked, an incredulous look on his normally smug face.

"Oh, um, the dog was a _lot _more dangerous than it looked." Percy declared.

"Don't worry about it, though. We've taken care of it," Annabeth added slowly looking at Percy's mom. She nodded quickly, and didn't even seemed fazed by her son and her son's best friend's conditions.

At seeing that everyone was seated round the table, a chubby waiter came up to us and took our orders. We placed them in what took forever. James kept changing his mind over whether to choose fish or shrimp. It wasn't helping that he got into an argument with Percy about eating seafood. Finally, he settled on fish, but had to switch seats with me to get as far away from Percy as possible.

We sat there waiting for our food, and for a moment, there was an awkward silence.

"So, how is everything going, kids? How is school? How are you all?" Mrs. Jackson spoke to all of us, but I had a feeling the questions were more directed to Percy and Annabeth.

"School is horrible, Mom. I don't know why you have to send me to school. I could just stay at camp year round, and—"

"_No,_ Percy." She sounded as if she had had this conversation many times before with her son.

"Actually," Annabeth stated, "It's not that bad. We haven't had many…fights and we all have each other and we're fine with that. I just miss camp."

Mrs. Jackson nodded and smiled gently towards Annabeth. "That's nice, dear. And how are you and Percy?"

Annabeth looked flushed but answered anyway. "We're fine, I guess. It's kind of hard living together sometimes. Percy does have his moments where he can't seem to shut up, and I can't study, but we have fun, too.

"Oh, yes, I know all that. I was just wondering, you know, the whole 'couple' thing, how it was going?"

Rachel tensed from her seat, Percy spit his juice back into his cup and Annabeth's eyes popped out of her head. All the three of them were blushing furiously. Honestly, I wasn't that far from screaming. How could I not notice it?

"_What?_" Annabeth asked finally, breaking the horrible silence.

Mrs. Jackson's eyes filled with amusement and she lifted her hand to cover her mouth. "Oh," she said quietly. "You two aren't dating _yet_?"


	13. That's what love does to you

**A/N: FIRST THINGS FIRST, HAPPY BRITHDAY FOURFEARSFOREVER ! THIS ONE'S FOR YOU ;) **

**HAHA, GUYS BEFORE YOU KILL ME FOR A LONG WAIT AND A SHORT CHAPTER, PLEASE KNOW THIS IS JUST A FILTER. THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE BETTER, I PROMISE. I TOOK LONG TO WRITE THIS ONE BECAUSE I MAY HAVE PROCRASTINATED. BUT CAN YOU BLAME ME? MY BIRTHDAY WAS FRIDAY, SO I HAVE BEEN BUSY. **

**THANKS SOOOO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS. THEY KEEP ME WRITING. NOT KIDDING. **

**DISCLAIMER: IF I HAD ENOUGH MONEY, I WOULD BUY PERCY JACKSON &amp; THE OLYMPIANS**

Six days later, Rachel Elizabeth Dare and Sally Jackson flew back to New York. I knew them for just about a week, and I would miss them like crazy. Rachel, weird as she was, was an amazing friend. She was a crazy good artist. I mean _really good_. She painted just about anything, and was modest, too. She never showed off, and never tried to dress up. No, instead, she wore tattered, old and worn t-shirts and jeans—all of them bought plain, but had drawings all over them.

Mrs. Jackson…there was no other way to describe her, but, a Mom. She was, as her son had put it, _perfect in every way…plus she makes the best cookies!_ So, of course, it was hard to see them leave. I even felt sorry for Percy. He looked about ready to bawl.

Annabeth hadn't shown up until last minute—just in time to tell Mrs. Jackson and Rachel goodbye. She didn't come with us because she said she had to do something for her Dad…although I doubted this was true. Ever since the night we had gone to dinner, she seemed distant to everyone. Most especially Percy. Percy who she was always 100% comfortable with. Percy who she never lied to. Percy who she knew inside and out. Percy who knew her better than any person on this planet. Yes, that Percy.

After Mrs. Jackson had made that statement, or question rather, she seemed uneasy. She ran to the bathroom as if to throw up. Honestly, I had no idea the idea of dating Percy horrified her that much. Came out even looking sick, but it was even more than that. Her eyes were distant as well. She seemed to be reliving one memory over and over and over again. And it didn't seem to be doing her any good.

Percy wasn't much better, but he seemed affected in a different way. It wasn't horrification; it wasn't disgust; it wasn't ghosts of his past…it was guilt. He looked as if he was the one that caused all of Annabeth's nightmares, all her bad memories. He looked as though he would trade what happened last summer for the world.

Since then, I don't think they'd had a proper one on one conversation. I didn't even expect her to show up today.

Percy had asked if she wanted to come and say goodbye with him and 'the gang.' Annabeth, never meeting his eyes, replied that she would try. That was it. I would have never, ever, ever in a million years, expected to miss them. Percy and Annabeth. Not Percy and Annabeth.

Lesley, Claire and Sara had stayed behind as well. They hadn't been coming around as much. Mainly, they stayed wherever they were, still using the excuse that they wouldn't leave a sick Lesley alone. It made me feel even sorrier for Lesley. I knew how it felt to be around someone you loved—someone who you die for, someone you cared about, but they didn't feel the same way. They probably never would. We'd lost our girls.

ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ

After watching Rachel and Mrs. Jackson leave, the four of us—Roger, James, Percy and I—caught a cab. At first, Percy asked us to come over, but at catching sight of something an a park, he told us he had to take care of something, but to meet at his place in an hour. We were confused, but allowed him to get out and run to a shadowy area of the park and asked the taxi driver to take us home. If you're wondering what happened to Annabeth, she caught a separate taxi, telling us she had an 'errand' to run. Long past trying to convince her to quit avoiding us, the four of us watched her climb into a taxi and zoom off, leaving a trail of dust behind her.

Not wanting to go home, James Roger and I ended up at a pizza place only a couple block from Annabeth and Percy's house, so it made it easier for us to get there once we were done.

After ordering a large meat lovers pizza, my two best friends and I chose a table near to a window, so we got a lot of fresh air.

"It's never going to be normal with the eight of us again, is it?" Roger asked us quietly, breaking the comfortable silence we were sitting in

I sighed. "Probably not—at least, I don't think so. Claire and Sara aren't ever going to leave Lesley to suffer. And I don't think it's going to be so easy for Les to be around Percy anymore. We can't blame her either."

"Technically, we can, considering—"

I cut James off with a glare. I knew joking around was his way of dealing with things, to make things less uncomfortable, but I wasn't going to sit around and let him tell me how Les should control her feelings. Not when I couldn't even control mine.

"And," I continued, "Annabeth and Percy haven't been normal—or as normal as they could possibly be—since they got back this summer."

"I think they were dating or something," James said lightly.

I tensed despite myself, and my heart beat faster.

"What makes you say that?" I ask him through gritted teeth.

"I don't know," he shrugged. "They seem less comfortable with each other."

"Yeah," Roger suggested, "and did you see the way they acted when Percy's mom started talking about the whole 'dating' thing? Something definitely happened."

"Yeah, well," I grumbled.

James clapped me on my back. "I'm sorry, man. I know how you feel about Annabeth. I just—"

"Don't worry about it," I said quickly. "I get it. Seriously, man."

"So, Roger," James declared suddenly. "When will you ask Sara out?"

Roger's eyes widened and he blushed a bright, bright red. "What- what are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on," I said exasperatedly, "_Everyone _knows how you feel about her It's obvious. She likes you, too, you know."

Roger sighed and put his head in his hands. "I don't know what to do. I just don't know. She's so…"

"Difficult?"

"Hard to please?"

"Annoying?"

"Mean?"

"Shut up!" Roger laughed. "I'm serious. What if she doesn't like me?"

"Aww," James cooed. "Poor little Roger has girl troubles."

"Shut up, James!"

"Roger and Sara kissing in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Roger held up a fist, as if making to punch him, but his eyes held no anger, only amusement. "What about you, huh? How's your little crush on Claire going?"

"Ha! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Please. Have you seen the way you look at her?"

"Of course, not idiot."

Roger ignored his comment and continued. "It's _so _obvious."

"Yeah, well…well…"

"Ha! I win!"

"Okay, okay!" I laugh, spreading my hands out and shutting them up, so as to stop them from withdrawing a crowd.

"Oh, look," Roger announced. "Pizza's here."

ΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔΔ

After gulping down our pizza, we walked over to Annabeth's house to visit Percy. And, honestly, we should stop eavesdropping. Not that we mean to, but I wish we would stop choosing the wrong moment to walk into someplace.

We were _this _close to knocking on their door when we heard it. It was possibly the scariest thing I'd ever heard—Annabeth crying.

"—so sorry," she was saying. "I don't think I've gotten over it. You don't understand, Percy. I thought…I really thought you were dead."

"It's okay, Annie, er, sorry, Wise Girl. It's not your fault. Everyone thought I was dead."

"But _I _shouldn't have. When I went missing, you said you never thought I was dead. But I—I, I didn't know. You were gone _two _weeks. I had no dreams. None. Not _one_. And the explosion you caused at Mt. St. Helens. I thought it impossible for you to survive that. And you did it for _me._ Why?"

I didn't hear what Percy said next. My ears were buzzing with disbelief at what Annabeth had just said. _The explosion you cause at Mt. St. Helens_. How in the world would Percy have caused that. Not even the scientists knew what had happened. Their only explanation was that it was some sort of natural disaster. And they were supposed to be in New York. I didn't see how it was possible that Percy had caused it. I must have heard wrong. It wasn't possible. It wasn't possible. _It wasn't possible._

I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't take the secrets, or the lies. I couldn't take all the risks that they were taking. I couldn't stand that every summer they came back more and more destroyed—both internally and externally—and damaged. I couldn't take that they nearly died multiple times before, and they _accepted _it. It was too much. It was all too much.

I threw open the door, and there were Percy and Annabeth, facing each other tears falling down their face, staring at each other, not even moving to see who came through the door.

They were—and I was sure of it now as I had ever been sure of anything in my life—completely, utterly and hopelessly in love with each other. And it broke my heart.


	14. What just happened?

**A/N: I KNOW THIS IS LATE, BUT THIS CHAPTER TOK A LOT OF WORK, SO I HOPE YOU'LL LIKE IT.**

**THANKS A TON FOR ALL THE REVIEWS. THEY MEAN A TON TO ME. AND THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH FOR THE PEOPLE PMING ME WITH ADVICE, OR FOR COMPANY. I LOVE YOU GUYS.**

**ANYWAY, I HOPE YOU'LL ENJOY THIS ONE!**

**DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING 'PJO', SADLY.**

I sat down across from her, grasping my coffee in my hands and looking outside. What I was about to say was hard, and I could say it only to her. It would be more real that way, easier to deal with.

"Well?" she asked me, in a noticeable bad mood. I didn't blame her after everything she's been through. "Why did you ask me to meet you here?"

I looked up at her. She really was beautiful. Noticing she was looking at me with a fixed gaze, I cleared my throat. "Les…" I started, not knowing exactly how to say what I was about to.

And then the words flowed right out of my mouth. I told Lesley all about my crush on Annabeth Chase, and how ever so slowly, it became less and less likely she liked me. I explained to her how that night, the night with Rachel, I had overheard her admit she loved Annabeth's best friend, Percy Jackson. I told her about my overhearing their conversation a couple days after. I told her about me slamming the door open, and seeing the way they looked at each other, obvious to anyone but themselves. My voice got caught in my throat when I told her about how angry they were at the three of us, and if it weren't for Percy—who'd, after calming Annabeth down, escorted us out the house and shut the door right in our faces. He'd tried his best to be polite, but I could tell he was annoyed at our arrival, even though it was he who told us to come. I told her, over and over, how they felt about each other. And _then_ came the hard part.

Unable to stop myself then, I told her about overhearing _again_ her plot with Sara and Claire, two of her best friends, to tell Percy she liked him. I flinched at the glare she sent me, disbelieving that I hadn't meant to eavesdrop, that it just happened.

"And you can't," I finished my speech, my coffee cold already.

"Can't what?" she questioned me, clearly irritated at this whole 'meeting.'

"Tell him," I said firmly.

Despite her being mad at me, I noticed her gaze soften as she considered this. Lesley Murray was not selfish. I knew she would listen to me, and hear me out. She wouldn't do anything too risky. She never did, unless for Percy.

"Why not?" she asked me, steeling her gaze again, but it was too late. I saw the pleading look seconds before which told me she was digging for a reason—any way out of telling him.

"I told you, already. They like each other. Only we've been too blind to notice it because we've been hoping too much. But open your eyes for one second and I guarantee, you'll notice it. If you do, there are too many chances he won't feel the same way. Take it from me. I was planning to tell Annabeth, too, until I saw them the way I did. It could ruin our friendship. Do the rational thinking. Come on, Les, you know I'm right."

She sighed, and then shook all the brown hair out of her face, leaving only a highlighted strand over her eyes. Without hesitation, I leaned forward and pushed it away—or at least tried to. I poked her eye accidentally.

"Ow!" she cried pushing me away. "Benjamin, you're so stupid!"

At first I thought she was serious, but then I saw her face redden and she chuckled softly. I started laughing, too, but it was a little awkward. Clearing my throat, I tried again.

"Well?"

She sighed again, but instead of shaking her head, she threw it back in exasperation. "I suppose you're right. All things considered, it couldn't really end well. I mean, look at Annabeth, and then there's me."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "I didn't come here so I could hear you trash talk yourself. Besides, that's not true, they've just been through everything together, I guess. Too much, if you ask me."

"Not our business, Ben," she reminded me as she always did. Lesley always believed in giving people privacy and space.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," I replied. I looked down at my watch and reluctantly stood up. "Well, nice breakfast, but it's Monday and it takes 15 minutes to get back to school and we have 5."

"Look on the bright side. It's the last week," Lesley pointed out.

"I guess. But look on the dark side, Percy and Annabeth are probably leaving Friday."

"Always the optimist, Benjamin. Always the optimist."

**ΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘΘ**

We arrived at school 20 minutes late because, well, we weren't exactly rushing to get to school. But who did that, anyway?

"Ms. Murray, Mr. Craig," Mrs. Armstrong called out. "Care to explain why you were late?"

I caught James' eye in the corner of the room, and he raised his eyebrows at me suggestively. Bewildered, I shook my head.

"No? Well, then, Benjamin, you and Lesley can take your seat _and _a detention on Friday."

Lesley began to protest, but one that lady's mind was made up, she didn't change it. Shrugging our shoulders, we walked quietly to the last two seats in the middle of the room. We took out our books, but only because our teacher was eyeing us like we were about to explode.

At lunch time, we met up with our friends, once again, 20 minutes late, due to Mrs. Armstrong keeping us back to yell at us.

"So, where have you guys been?" Annabeth asked us as we sat down next to them at our respective table.

"Getting yelled at by a teacher, who I am pretty sure is at least 100 years old." I responded biting out of my sandwich.

James opened his mouth, probably to ask why we weren't at school on time either—a question to which I had no idea how to answer—but he never got the chance.

"Well, if it isn't the loser table," a husky voice announced loud enough for the entire school to hear. The whole café hushed down to nothing more than whispers going around the room.

Roger muttered, "What do you want now, Anthony?"

"Oh, nothing," the school bully replied casually pulling Lesley's headband right out her hair."

Unhesitatingly, Percy stood up with curled fists dangling loosely at his side. "Give it back," he tried.

Next to me, Lesley's whole body tensed up, and I felt sympathetic for her. I knew what it felt like. I remembered when I thought Annabeth liked me back because of the way she stood up for me. This couldn't be any easier for her. I looked at her through a sideways glance and saw that her jaw was clenched too. With a start I realized she was trying not to cry.

I reached out under the table, where no one could see,—because there was no way I was able to tell them about Lesley and I's earlier conversation—and squeezed her wrist. I meant it as a quick motion to soothe her, and tell her not to worry, but she held on to mine, digging her fingernails into my skin. I winced, but kept my hand firm. I understood how it felt to need an anchor to keep you grounded, and at that moment, I was hers.

"What are you gonna do about it, Jackson?"

"Just give it back! What do you need it for, anyway? Your next ballet recital?"

Anthony's face visibly reddened and a series of murmurs spread through the cafeteria. It had been a while since he had come to pick a fight with us, and everyone knew Anthony hated Percy because he 'stole his rightful place at the top of PE class.' But if it were up to Anthony, Percy would be taking drugs and on steroids.

I could notice with ease how badly Percy wanted to fight him, but, to my surprise, I realized he was holding himself back.

"Percy, don't do it. Percy, don't do it," Annabeth was saying to him quickly. However, that only seemed to push Percy more because all of a sudden, he lunged at Anthony.

He wasn't aiming for anywhere, really. He wasn't trying to hurt Anthony, though I had no idea why. He was grabbing for the black and gold headband that was swinging from Anthony's hand.

"The headband's not even that important, Percy," Lesley said freeing my hand.

He looked at her. "No I want to. He's got to learn to pick on people his own size."

"Ha! Like you? I could take you any day, Jackson!"

Underneath her breath, I heard Annabeth mutter, "Don't be so sure."

Percy gritted his teeth. "I don't want to fight. Just give me back her headband and leave us alone!"

Out of nowhere, a whistle blew. "David! Jackson!" Our PE coach yelled, "Since you seem so eager to handle this _maturely _why don't you start by racing each other to the gym and doing 5 times up the rock climbing wall?"

Anthony humphed triumphantly. Percy let out a sort of chuckle and agreed seemingly reluctantly. Then, he and Anthony raced through the door, Percy leading by a couple feet. It took 30 whole seconds before half the school dashed after them.

3 minutes later, the gym was completely crowded. Everyone was eager to watch Percy and Anthony race to the finish. Anthony looked frighteningly confident…as though he spent all year training and knew for a fact he could beat Percy Jackson.

Percy wasn't 'famous' in school, though he certainly had the looks for it. Some girls have a crush on him, but most of the time, they don't notice him. Besides from being weird, he doesn't really put himself out there. Whereas if he were to be a part of the football team, girls would practically be on their knees for him. In a way, this comforts me. At least that way I knew he was a real friend and not using us. He really, honestly thought of us as his friends and didn't mind being seen with us.

Percy looks more than confident, unlike Anthony. He seems—carefree. He looks tired, as if he was waiting to get this over with. He looked sideways at Anthony—not at us—and told him something.

"What?" Anthony screeched loud enough for everyone to hear. "Head start? _You _want to give _me _a head start."

Percy muttered something under his breath that only Anthony could hear, but he seemed satisfied with Percy's reply.

"Okay, Coach." Anthony cracked his knuckles. "Blow the whistle, already."

A little hesitantly, Coach raised his whistle to his mouth and blew. Immediately, Anthony flew to the rock climbing wall as if he was a magnet. His hands reached up to grab each of the handholds with such skill, even Coach was impressed.

And then I saw Percy. Percy lazily walked to the wall after Anthony, though he wasn't too far behind. He jumped to grab onto a handhold, but it was more than 'jump.' It was more like he sprang, because he flew to just below Anthony. He would have done the basketball team good.

His hands reached up and pulled himself upward with agility, speed. He did it gracefully, too. Not sloppily, slipping every minute. He climbed as though it was a second nature to him. He reached the top of the wall the same time as Anthony and they raced back down to the bottom and started the next lap.

Anthony started a split second after him, but he wasn't fast enough. It went on like this, with them chasing each other. After each lap, Anthony was behind a little more, so by the time they finished the 5 laps, Percy was ahead by 30 seconds.

When Anthony fell into step beside him, he said, "Nice run. Next time, we'll do our best, okay? No going easy again,"

"Yeah, sure, punk," Anthony panted, doubled over in sweat. "No—going easy—next time."

"Great," Percy said. "I'll wait on it." He looked around the awed room until he spotted us on the top of the bleachers, where we got a clear view. He smiled and waved before jogging over to us.

When he was in front of us, he stretched like a cat. He yawned, "I haven't had a good workout like that in a while, Wise Girl. You really should have joined us."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and muttered, "Show off."

I heard Claire screech at that moment. Then she slapped a hand over her mouth, terrified at the sound that came out of her mouth.

"What is it?" Lesley and Roger asked in unison.

"That _thing_ came to visit again!"

Sara let out a sarcastic laugh before elbowing Claire. "Be nice, Claire!"

"What thing?" Percy looked confused.

"Him," I pointed at the two people standing at the doorway of the gym. They were the same people that brought Percy and Annabeth back here last summer.

I don't think I had ever seen Percy or Annabeth smile wider. "Grover! Tyson!" they called out.

The bigger one, I think Tyson, whipped his head around at the sound. He nudged Grover and pointed at us before he started clapping his hands and jumping up and down. He and Grover ran over to us.

"Brother!" Tyson called out. Yes, brother. He engulfed Percy into what had to be the biggest hug ever.

"Percy! Annabeth!" Grover cried, wrapping them in a hug.

"Hey, big guy," Percy said. "What's up? Why are you here? Not that I'm not happy to see you! It's just—school ends on Friday."

"Scent," Grover said, like it was the most normal thing in the world. But, of course, to this group, it probably was.

"It's close, actually," he continued. "Really close…"

"Here? Well, we haven't found one," Annabeth chipped in.

"She's pretty," Tyson gurgled, moving next to Claire.

"Hey!" Annabeth pouted.

Percy laughed and said to Annabeth, "Looks like you've been replaced, Annie."

Meanwhile, Claire wailed, "Oh, my God. Oh, my _God._ Sara, Sara get that thing away from me!"

"Claire, really, stop being so mean."

"Wait, wait. Oh, no. Percy how were we so _stupid_?" Annabeth slapped her forehead.

"Huh?"

Annabeth, for the first time, looked nervous. Slowly, realization rose on Grover's face. "Oh, gods, that's not good."

Annabeth cleared her throat. "Listen, Claire. We have to leave. And you have to come with us."

Claire laughed weakly. "What are you guys talking about?"

Annabeth sighed when Percy yelled, "Oh! Oh. This is not good."

"I'm talking," Annabeth continued, "about you coming to Camp with us."

"You mean your camp? The one you'll never tell us about?"

"That's the one."

"I-I don't understand. Why? Can the others come?"

"No. Just you."

"Wait, wait, wait," James cried.

"Yeah, timeout." Sara exclaimed, "You can't come here, pick up my best friend, and take her!"

"Guys, this is really important. Please don't make this harder—"

"_Harder?_ For you or us? 'Cause you two have had it pretty easily, considering you keep so many secrets. If anyone has it hard, it's us. It's not a piece of cake pretending we don't know you guys have been in danger, you know?" Sara blew up in the now empty gym.

"Sara, calm down. If things go good, she'll be back after summer."

"Stop! What if I don't want to go? I want to stay with Sara and Lesley and Roger and Ben and James! You two can run off to your camp. I don't want to go."

"You don't have a choice, Claire. We'll explain on the way."

"What about my Dad? He only has me. I can't leave him." Claire's lower lip quivered and her voice trembled.

"Of course," Grover said. "We'll stop by, explain everything to him. He's known this was going to come sooner or later. Christopher Velasquez, right?"

"How-how did you know?"

"Yeah, it's her. Come on, let's go."

"What about Annabeth?" Tyson asked.

"What about me?" Percy asked with equal concern.

"Well, you're coming, aren't you?"

"Yeah, sure. I miss camp, anyway."

"Let's go, then," said Grover exasperatedly.

"Claire, you can't go!" James exclaimed.

"I have to hear what they have to say, James. I'll come back. I-I promise."

I saw Grover wince as if promising was a bad idea.

"I have to tell you something. I have-I-I—"

A crash erupted from the center of the gym, and there was a hole in the wall, as if a wrecking ball crashed through it. Claire screamed.

"Not again," Percy groaned.

"We have to go. _Now!_" Annabeth said.

Claire, who looked torn between two worlds, and as though she knew what James was about to say, said, "I get it, James. But I'll be back." She forced a smile. "I'm going to summer camp. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Claire!" someone screamed from the bottom of the bleachers as we heard another explosion.

We ducked down, but nothing seemed to be happening to us, and right now, safety wasn't our first priority.

"I love you guys. See you when school starts." She smiled one more time before running down to meet Percy's outstretched hand.

The five of them ran in the direction of the explosions. Percy and Annabeth were yelling at each other, but they weren't fighting. They were working together.

They jumped through the crater in the wall, and the explosions vanished. In the silence, I heard Sara sniffle. It wasn't because she had gone to summer camp. We had all gone on vacations without each other before. It was because—with Percy and Annabeth—it was very possible Claire could not keep that promise she'd made.


	15. Gone

**A/N: IT'S BEEN FOREVER, I KNOW, BUT ONLY 13 DAYS. MY ONLY EXCUSE IS I MAY HAVE HAD A TINY WRITERS BLOCK, SO THIS IS A FILLER. NOT MUCH PERCY &amp; ANNABETH IN HERE. I KNOW THIS STORY IS SUPPOSED TO BE ABOUT THEM. BUT I HATE STORIES THAT DON'T PERSONALIZE THEIR CHARACTERS, SO THIS IS WHAT THIS IS.**

**I HOPE YOU LIKE IT, ANYWAY. FOR REMINDERS: PM ME WHENEVER YOU WANT TO, BUT I MAY NOT ANSWER YOU RIGHT AWAY. THAT'S IT? YEAH.**

**DISCLAIMER: IF I EVER BECOME THE OWNER OF PERCY JACKSON &amp; THE OLYMPIANS, I'LL LET YOU KNOW.**

"I don't think I've ever been more worried in my entire life!" James said for about the fiftieth time in the last half hour.

"James, relax. We still have an entire before school starts. They'll—_she'll_—be back. Remember what happened last time? It'll be _fine_," Sara soothed, though she only rants when she's really nervous. "I mean, she has to be fine. She promised. You don't think—"

"Sara!" I yelled. "Not helping!"

"Right. Sorry," she mumbled softly before retreating to the corner by Lesley.

Roger's eyes followed her the entire time. My heart sank despite myself. At least he stood a chance with Sara. At least she probably like him back. The rest of us couldn't say the same. Not Lesley. Not me. Not James.

Then we heard her. It was her laugh that made us realize she was back. I won't lie and say we weren't more worried for Claire than Percy and Annabeth. We were all still sort of angry at them for taking her without explanation. The only thought that comforted us was that she would rather be her with all of us rather than just them.

James' head shot up and he raced to the window in Roger's bedroom. His mouth dropped open and he pointed out the window.

"She-she's right there. She doesn't even. She's not. She…she. But…"

I walked over next to James and put my hand on his shoulder. Then I noticed why he was stuttering so badly. Claire had her hair out, as usual. She was laughing her head off while trying to spread a picnic blanket, but failing repeatedly. She was surrounded by a group of people, including Percy and Annabeth, who were all laughing along with her.

That wasn't the problem. Out of us all, Claire was probably the most popular due to her beauty. She didn't act like it, though. At first, we had hesitated including her in our 'group.' I know it sounds awful, but you would think she was like those other girls at our school who did everything to fit in and be popular. For some reason, Claire didn't just want to fit in. She wanted to fit in with _us_.

I mean, it's not like we were complete nobodies. We weren't the type of people that the popular guys immediately wanted to pick on. But we weren't the ones doing the picking, either. We were in the middle, I guess. And from the moment she stepped into the school, she wanted to be friends with us. There was no doubt between us that she was the lynch pin. But that wasn't the point.

We were used to Claire being surrounded by a bunch of people. But she didn't normally interact with them _this _much. But that still wasn't it. She was out there. _Right _in front of us. She could have easily walked over to us. It wasn't like she didn't know we were worried. But she stayed there. Right there. Not even glancing up towards the house. She looked carefree.

Without noticing it, James balled up his fist and growled, "I'm going out there."

None of us disagreed. Without saying a word, we walked down the stairs and out the front door of Roger's house. Nearing her, we could hear bits of the conversation.

"…was trying to teach her how to plant I realized she could _never _be Mom's. She was absolutely horrible!" a girl with green eyes were saying.

Claire laughed. "I wasn't that bad, Katie."

Katie was about to respond but Percy interrupted. "I can't believe I didn't know. I mean, I spend the entire year with her and din't even know she was one of us!"

"I knew," Annabeth said. "Not that she was one of us," she added, "but it wasn't hard to tell who her mom was."

Claire sighed. "I wish I could meet her."

"No, you don't," Percy threw in.

Claire looked around. "Has anyone _other than Percy _met my mom? Because I'm pretty sure she isn't as bad as he says she is."

Annabeth laughed and nudged Percy with her elbow in a teasing manner. I was oddly satisfied that they were back to normal rather than the awkwardness of last year.

"Silena knew her," an aggressive girl with stringy brown hair said sadly.

Immediately, all the smiles wiped off of everyone's faces. I vaguely remembered the girl that came for Percy and Annabeth with Nico about two years ago.

"She _was _a hero, right?" Claire asked softly.

"Definitely," Annabeth whispered. Then she caught sight of us.

As if we couldn't see her, she shushed everyone around her and turned to face us, still sitting around the picnic blanket. You would think _we _were the bad guys. Except last year, Claire was on our side.

Sara, who was lugging behind us all, pushed her way to the front. Her eyes were misty and red, but she looked more angry than sad. She stared at Claire and time seemed to stop as they seemed to have a conversation with the other's eyes.

Then, trembling with rage, she turned and fled the scene. James stole one glance at Claire then turned back. The sight of Claire sitting next to a tall muscular guy was probably too painful. He followed Sara in an instant, followed by a silent Lesley. She didn't even look at any of our friends.

Roger took one step forward before changing his mind and fleeing with our other friends. And then there was one.

I looked at Percy, first. His eyes showed sorrow. He was sorry he hurt us, except not really. These were his friends. His real friends. Not us. We knew that from the minute we'd met him.

Then at Annabeth. She didn't even look sorry. She looked…amused. Amused that this was my worst problem. If she looked sorry at all, it was for herself. Sorry that she couldn't have the problems I had

I looked at Claire. She seemed to pleading me not to abandon her, too. Pleading for me to explain something to them. Just not to leave along with them. But, then, I remembered. She left first.

With one last look, I turned around and ran after my friends.

ddddddddd

5 Voicemails, 10 calls, 3 messages later, Lesley decided to pick up her cell phone. Claire called her, but only her. I wasn't too sure why. Probably because she would be the easiest to reach out to considering she was the most understanding out of all of us.

"Hello?" Her voice sang into the phone. Quickly, she flipped it away from her ear and clicked the speaker button.

"…_please _talk to me?" Claire was saying.

Lesley sighed. "Yeah, sure. Go ahead."

Being one of our best friends for years, Claire was already aware that the phone was on speaker, and, though we were evidently upset and not speaking, we wanted to hear what she would say.

"You guys…" She paused for a moment as if she were thinking to say a speech. "I'm so sorry. But…why were you so upset? You know you're my best friends."

"You knew!" Sara wailed all of a sudden. "You knew that Percy and Annabeth were into something dangerous! You knew you could get yourself into it, too. But you still left for the entire summer without a word! And you didn't even have decency to call us to tell us you were back!"

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm so sorry. But, you guys, Percy and Annabeth. They have a really, really good reason for what's been happening with them. It's been completely out of their control, and if they could, they would change it. But you need to start worrying so much about them. When you think about it, as long as they're together, they're safer than all of us. Invincible, even.

I have to warn you, though. Now, especially, you can't worry about me. Some strange things might be happening to me as well now. I just need you to trust me here."

She ended on a wistful note, before realizing our request. I suppose our silence spoke for us all.

"Oh! No, guys. You know I'm so so so so sorry, but I can't tell you what's been happening."

"We're your best friends, Claire. For God's sake!" I screamed at the phone.

Normally, Claire would subside and explain it to us, but make us swear not to tell anyone.

However, she said in a disgustful tone, "Yeah. You are. So I really expected you to understand and trust me."

The phone made a clicking sound and we were disconnected from the call. James picked up one of Roger' newly bought school books and threw it across the room. He raced out the room slamming the door behind him.

Sara immediately stood up and reached for the door knob.

"Leave him alone, Sara!" Roger snapped. "He's going through a tough time and needs to be alone!"

"And I'm not?" Sara squinted her eyes. "You can't tell me what to do, Roger. _You _leave _me _alone!"

She opened the door, slammed it for the second time in two minutes, and we heard her retreating footsteps.

Roger screamed and buried himself in a pillow. And Lesley, quiet, shy, cute little Lesley, chose that moment to speak.

"Why don't you guys listen to her?"

Roger's head snapped up.

"What?"

"You trust her, don't you? So why do you need to know everything?"

"We want to _help _her, Lesley." I said exasperatedly.

"Obviously, she can do fine without you! I don't understand you! Any of you!"

She ran for the door, too, but Percy and Annabeth stepped in at the same time.

Percy grabbed Lesley's shoulders. "Hey, hey. What's the rush?"

"Let me go, Percy!" she cried before twisting herself between them and out the window.

"What's up with her?" Annabeth asked in a sickening cheerful mood.

"Everything," I grumbled.

"So where is everyone?" Percy asked, flopping himself onto Roger's bed.

"Gone!"

"What do you mean, gone?"

"I _mean,_" Roger snapped. "that they left. Thanks, you guys. Really," he said sarcastically.

"Woah, woah, why are you blaming us?"

"You took Claire!" I screamed at the same time Roger shouted, "Can't you see what you've done?"

Annabeth's face went from surprise to anger. Like she was the angry one.

"Well," she huffed, "since we're obviously not wanted here, let's go, Percy."

"What? What's going on?"

_"__Let's go, Percy."_

"Yes, Annabeth." He followed Annabeth out the door who slammed the door for the third time.

Roger, who seemed more upset because of Sara's outburst than the whole situation, said, "You can go, too."

"I don't—"

"Well, please, do. I just want to be alone right now, okay? Just. Go."

"Fine," I responded with dignity. "I'll leave, then."

I walked to his door, swung it open, and threw myself out the door, slamming it for good measure.

What was happening to us?


	16. Roots of Friendship

**A/N: FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DIDN'T GUESS, YES CLAIRE'S MOTHER IS APHRODITE, HENCE THE REASON WHY SHE WANTED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT SILENA. ALSO, I WAS ASKED WHY ANNABETH WAS CHEERFUL. THAT IS BECAUSE SHE DOESN'T SEE THE NEED FOR BEING SO STRESSED OUT AFTER OVERCOMING A WAR. THAT AND THE FACT THAT SHE IS DATING PERCY JACKSON. WHO WOULDN'T BE IN A GOOD MOOD?AND, TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS, A PM IS A PRIVATE INBOX FOR THOSE WHO HAVE ACCOUNTS.**

**BACK TO THE REGUALARS: YOUR REVIEWS KEEP ME INSPIRED, I SWEAR. THANKS SO MUCH. ALSO, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME FOR ANY LACK OF PERCABETH, BUT I NEEDED THIS CAPTER TO FOCUS MORE ON CLAIRE AND HER FRIENDS, BUT PERCABETH WILL COME. I PROMISE.**

**DISCLAIMER: I'LL LET YOU KNOW IF I OWN PJO.**

It had been two days and I felt like I'd starved myself. There were chips bags, nacho plates, lollipop wrappers, popcorn bags and pizza boxes strewn about the room from what I've eaten.

Yet, I was hungry. Somehow or the other, I knew it wasn't for food. I was craving _company._ I wanted so badly to be with my friends it hurt. I had this sort of feeling in the pit of my stomach that I'd been trying to cover up with food, but it wouldn't abandon me.

Finally, I groan and pick up my phone from my bedside table. No missed calls, no text messages, no voicemails. I sigh audibly. I really didn't understand much of what was happening. I would have understood if everyone got upset, but Claire not calling us early… Well, there had to be a deeper meaning to why that got everyone so out of control.

I thought I knew why, though. It wasn't so bad that Claire didn't call to let us know she was back, but was busy. We could've all lived with that. Mostly, it was the fact that we didn't _expect _her to come back. Although we would never in a million years admit out loud, I thought at some point or the other, we had all said our silent goodbyes.

Seeing her again had been overwhelming. It was like seeing a ghost. And I was pretty sure the reason behind all our madness was the fact that when we saw her, we saw the ghost. It was never really that she hadn't called to tell us she'd arrived. It was never her fault. She was right, even. She was right about us not being true friends. Not even being good enough friends to respect her privacy.

No, it was never really that. We were angry at ourselves. We were upset that we doubted she would fulfil her promise and come back. It was the fact that we'd written her off so quickly—one summer—and not even discussed it. Because of our selfish foolishness we lost Claire Not to mention Percy and Annabeth who were probably mad at our being mad for no apparent reason. I didn't blame them.

I thought about what I was going to do for a couple moments before I did. Resolutely, I sent out 5 text messages. Four characters were typed on it, but that was all I had to say. They would understand. I couldn't text Percy or Annabeth because they didn't use phones much, but hopefully they would be with Claire.

_2:00_, the message read. I had half an hour. Pulling myself up, I banter over to the bathroom and take a fifteen minute shower. When I was done, I pulled on some clothes and threw things around my room in an attempt to make it neater. At 1:50, though, I decided I had better leave if I wanted to make it there on time—which I should since I basically planned it all.

I make it to our spot at the park at exactly 2:00. With nothing else to do, I lean against the bulk of a huge tree. It was the reason we hung out here so regularly. It was so big and beautiful and _old. _It had been standing for generations and generations, but still beared the most beautiful flowers any of us had ever seen. It towered over us to give a large amount of protection from the sun's heat and feel any cool breeze passing through the rustling of the leaves.

It was Claire who saw beauty in it first. The reasons we like it sort of cheesy, so we keep it between ourselves. The first was 'Beauty knows no age.' Claire came up with that one, obviously. The second reason was never announced, but all of us knew it was there. 'Anything can stand with strong roots.'

Anything can survive as long as its intentions are good, as long as it was strong enough to hold on to. That's how I know they all know where I'm asking to meet them.

The tree symbolized our friendship, which we always thought to be everlasting. It was worth anything; we would hold on to it for dear life as the roots of the tree do the ground. I'd grown used to calling it the Tree of Friendship, though the only person that knows I call it that is Lesley. Even so, she found out accidentally.

I fingered the zipper of my backpack while I wait. I prayed hopefully that they would show up. They always showed up. We need the tree. Our roots were the tree, and I knew if they did not come, they might as well have dug up the tree.

Lesley came first shouldering the bag that more than likely held the plates, cups, napkins and any utensils we would need.

"Hey," she said softly looking at the green grass at her feet.

"Hi," I answered. "Thanks for—"

"No problem," she quickly said again shutting me up.

Sighing, I sat down and crossed my legs. I was glad she understood the gesture for her to follow.

"I'm not going to take it back, you know," she tried carefully, picking at her own bag.

"Oh, I don't expect you to," I replied truthfully. "I think you were right, actually. It was selfish of us."

She lifted her head for a moment and her loose hair fell from in front of her face to behind her ear naturally. Nevertheless, she lifted her hand and tucked the piece of light brown hair behind her ear more tightly.

"Really?" she questioned me.

I tried for a smile. "Really."

She smiled back, and for a moment, everything was back to normal. Then Roger hopped out of taxi and walked straight for the tree, not even checking to see f we were sitting under it.

He was in a livelier mood than both of us and spoke easily. "I wasn't sure, so I still brought the stuff. If we don't need it, then, I guess—"

"Roger!" I shouted, "Chill, we all brought our stuff."

His cheeks reddened and he muttered a quick 'okay' before settling down next to us.

You see, we were all entitled to bring along some asset for any meeting we would have at the Tree as it usually resulted in a picnic. Sara came next. She didn't talk at all, but seemed quite comfortable in the silence between the four of us.

We waited 10 more minutes, but no one else showed up.

"I'd have at least thought James would show up," Sara sighed, finally speaking.

"I didn't," Roger announced while moving to lie down in the grass rather than sit. "I don't think this _ridiculous _reason why we've been fighting is why he's upset. I don't even think he's mad at any of us or even fighting. It's cause of that guy that was sitting next to her when we saw her.

I mean, I could understand what it feels like. You like a girl and think for the first time she actually likes you, all you need is to wait for the perfect time. But you have her, she's in you grasp. Then, all of a sudden she's gone and doesn't even want anything to do with you. Or in his case, finds another guy. And the horrible truth hits you that maybe you were dreaming, and she never di like you."

He finished looking straight at Sara, not even bothering to pretend he wasn't talking about her. She knew, too. She deliberately avoided his gaze and swallowed. Then she began crying.

None of us knew what to do. She just sat there crying and twirling the grass around her finger. She didn't even move to wipe the tears from her face. She seemed like she wanted to stop, but the tears kept flowing.

I looked at Lesley. She was normally the one who comforted anyone. But she was crying, too. Roger and I looked helplessly at each other. Lesley, noticing our discomfort, wiped her eyes and mouthed, "I'm okay."

Roger took a deep breath and moved next to Sara. He looked terribly uncomfortable. He lazily put an arm on her back and asked, "Um, Sara? Are you—are you okay? I mean I know you're not okay, but do you, er, want…"

He looked to me and Lesley pleadingly, but we intentionally averted our gazes.

"Well," he continued, "if you want to talk. Uh, I'm sorry for saying what I said. I shouldn't have. I don't know what I was thinking—"

Sara shifted herself from the awkward position they were in and threw her arms around his neck and cried even harder in his shirt. He wrapped his arms around her and the two of them were in their own little world whispering to each other.

"Well, it's about time," I heard a voice say behind me.

Lesley shot up from the ground and threw her arms around Claire, and I knew we were forgiven.

"James didn't come?" she asked softly, letting Lesley go.

We shook our heads, but she only nodded and pursed her lips.

"Oh, look," she said, but she sounded close to tears. "Here come Percy and Annabeth."

Sara let go of Roger and bean talking softly to Claire while the rest of watched Percy and Annabeth run, hand in hand, towards us. Despite myself, my heart skipped a beat at seeing Annabeth. Lesley's hand flew straight towards mine and I knew she was still getting over him.

"Hey, sorry we're late," Percy breathed.

"No problem," Roger said.

Annabeth looked around. "Where's James?"

"He didn't show up," I said.

She looked down at mine and Lesley's linked hands and raised her eyebrows.

"Are you two dating now?" she asked.

Lesley let my hand go at once and I stammered out a lazy, "No."

I saw a glint in Claire's eyes that I wasn't comfortable with at all, but it was gone a second later.

"So," she said, clearly trying to break the awkwardness. "We're okay, right?"

We all nodded and Lesley asked what I'd been too stupid to notice.

"Are _you _two dating now?"

They both turned bright red and Claire squeaked, "Yes! Finally! You should've seen it! It was _so _romantic!"

Somewhere along her speech Lesley' hand found mine again and I gave it a squeeze. I hadn't really processed it, honestly. That the person I'd had a crush on for as long as I could remember 94I hadn't really processed it, honestly. That the person I'd had a crush on for as long as I could remember had a boyfriend. But, then again, it wasn't really surprising. I'd seen it coming, I had just been in denial.

In a way, it was a relief knowing it. At least I knew where I stood, and I could finally get on with my life. Not that it would be easy, but with Lesley and my friends, it was definitely possible. I squeezed her hand once more to assure myself she was still there, because, at that moment, she was my anchor.

"Do you think he'll come," Claire asked again.

"He came," James answered behind the tree. I didn't know how long he'd been standing here, but I'd guess it had been a while.

Claire pretty much flew straight into him, knocking him back into the tree. She hugged him so tightly I was afraid she was choking him. But he didn't hug her back. He stood there, his face grief stricken, but his arms never found her. We all looked at each other trying to figure out what was going to happen next.

She let him go and looked directly into his eyes. "I thought you weren't going to come," she whispered loud enough for all of us to hear.

"I wasn't sure if I would," he admitted.

"Well," she said reaching for his hand, "I'm glad you did."

He stared at her hand for a moment and then pulled it back. Now it was her turn to stare. She looked at the empty space between them as if it hurt, and I knew it wasn't only Roger and Sara having 'couple' problems today.

I wanted to stop looking, for I knew it was a private moment, but all of sat there dumbfoundedly, unable to look away.

"How are you?" Claire croaked.

"I'm fine," he said.

"Summer wasn't the same without you."

"Bet you had lots of people to replace me, though,"

_Me. _He said _Me _not _Us. _That was how I knew that we wasn't just overreacting for her lack of contact. They were talking about something else entirely.

"You know I could never replace you."

"No. I don't."

"James, why are you really mad at me?"

"It doesn't matter anymore, Claire."

"Of course, it matters!" she shrieked. "Do you think I've—"

"Guys, guys, hold up!" Percy held his hands up. "We've got, er, company. Best not be fighting."

"What company?" Lesley asked.

I looked beyond Percy and Annabeth and saw 3 other strange people walking towards our Tree. I wouldn't have been surprised if they were their friends.

When they approached us, I noticed there were 2 women and 1 man. They were all fidgeting around, but didn't seem nervous exactly.

"You guys," Annabeth said, her voice shaking. "Meet our parents."


	17. Interesting School Days

**A/N: MUCHOS GRACIAS TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE REVIEWED MY STORY. i APPRECIATE THEM MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD. AND NOW I HAVE AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. THERE ARE NOW OFFICIALLY THREE MORE CHAPTERS AFTER THIS ONE IN THE STORY.**

**I'M ALSO WORKING ON SEVERAL OTHER FANFICTIONS, SO I HOPE YOU STICK AROUND WITH ME!**

**SORRY FOR ALL THE LINEBREAKS IN THIS ONE, BUT I HAD NO OTHER CHOICE. AND I HATE THIS CHAPTER, SO PLEASE, DON'T HATE IT TOO MUCH.**

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN PJO, BUT IF YOU DO, LET ME KNOW.**

"Wait—whose parents?" I asked because it seemed like a fair question. She said 'our,' not 'my.'

"Mine, Percy's. And Claire's." She looked at Claire, who didn't seem much less confused than us.

"Wait, is that my—"

"Yeah," Percy said. "She looks different every time I see her, you know."

"She's beautiful."

"That's kind of the point," Percy raised his eyebrows.

Claire laughed uneasily, "Oh, shut up, Percy."

In my head, I tried to run through what was happening. How could they have three parents? And they definitely couldn't _share _three parents. I mean, I'd met one of each of theirs, anyway.

Claire's mom—well no one knows what happened to her. Her dad says she disappeared, but he doesn't believe her dead. Annabeth avoided speaking about her mom, so I assumed she had been horrible to Annabeth and her dad, and that her step-mom was the closest thing she had to a mom. With a couple words from Percy, though, it seemed that wasn't true. And I'd only just met Percy's mom, but not his dad, and didn't recall him being mentioned.

The three people arrived finally in front of us. The one on the right was female and had blonde hair, like Annabeth's, though it was curlier. The two also shared the fearsome grey eyes I had once been in love with. Her face had no form of amusement on it, and she stared at each of us, analysing us, until she seemed satisfied.

The one in the middle was a middle-aged man wearing khaki shorts and a loose buttoned shirt that read 'Hang Ten Dude.' He had the slightest specks of grey in his hair and sparkling blue-green eyes. He winked at Percy, obviously trying to be reassuring, but I could have told that he was nervous about something.

The one to the left was gorgeous. Her hair cascaded down her back in light brown, perfect, small waves, with a few highlights, so that it was not too curly or too straight. Her eye colour varied from blue to green to brown, although I noticed it stayed mostly on a dark, hazel-ish brown. A white, cheerful smile never left her face and there was no doubt she attracted a _lot _of attention.

They pulled up short and basically had a staring contest with Claire, Annabeth and Percy. Finally, Annabeth broke the silence.

"Hi, Mom," she said.

"Annabeth," her mother curtly nodded.

"Dad," Percy said with a confused expression as if he wasn't sure the sort of terms him and his father were on.

"Hello, Percy. How have you been?"

"I—"

"I think it's best you don't answer that, son," the man replied breaking into a grin.

Percy laughed, too, and they began an over polite, but still friendly light conversation.

It was only Claire and who I guessed was her mother not speaking.

"You have your father's eyes," Claire's mom told her.

"You remember him?"

"Of course I do."

"Well!" Annabeth's mom said sharply, cutting off their conversation. "We did not come here to socialize—"

Percy cut her off with a rude, "When do you ever?"

Annabeth's mom's eyes flashed with rage, and she snapped, "I don't believe I was speaking to you, Perseus Jackson. I would think you would show your girlfriend's mother a bit more respect."

Percy looked as though he wanted to comment, but he simply muttered, "Sorry."

"Speaking of which, Annabeth, dear, are you sure you want to be dating such a—"

"Mother! I already told you…" she trailed off looking around at us, daring herself not to speak anymore. "Look, I don't expect you came here to discuss my love life, so…" Annabeth blushed a furious red, and I had to force myself to look away; force myself not to scream out at the world.

Claire's mom cut herself in. "Although, Father didn't say we couldn't do such a thing, did he? We always have time to—"

"Not now!" Claire snapped, obviously annoyed that this was the first time she was meeting her mother and she was obviously more interested in Percy and Annabeth than herself.

In the background, Percy sighed and looked at his father. "Girls," he chuckled and looked at his dad.

His dad smiled reassuringly at him. "Tell me about it."

"So," Percy said, breaking the tension between the four of them. "Can you tell us why you're here?"

"Er—let's do that in private, yes?" Claire's mom said. She said it more like a statement than a question. Claire and Annabeth stormed away followed in pursuit by the others.

"I cannot believe this," Sara whispered.

"Neither can I," agreed Roger who was still sitting fairly close to Sara.

"Her mother…" That was James.

"Not even…" I shook my head.

Lesley laughed softly beside me. "I always knew they were different, but this is…extraordinary."

We watched the six figures from a distance. Claire's, Annabeth's and Percy's parents seemed fairly calm, but they were waving their arms in the air, clearly upset. I noticed they tried their best to stay calm and not upset their parents because with one sharp word from them, they noticeably calmed.

We could hear only a couple of words that were being shouted, but we couldn't detect who they were coming from.

_Decline…Honorable…First…No…Normal…Friends…Not…Honor…Don't…Regret…_

That was it. We didn't hear anything else. By the end of their 'discussion,' all of them seemed much calmer and were saying decent enough farewells, though they all still looked quite a bit upset.

Their parents walked away from them, so I looked to our three friends who were conversing while walking back. When I looked back to where their parents were, I saw that they all disappeared without a trace. The few onlookers were now tending to their own business and stopped worrying about the strange people who showed up in the park.

**Θθθθθθθθθ**

The first day back at school was a bit…different from our normal days. We got our schedules as per usual and compared them as usual. I had first period with Roger and Sara, second with Roger and Percy, third with James and Annabeth, lunch with everyone, fifth with Lesley and sixth with Percy, Annabeth, Claire and James.

So Roger, Sara and I abandoned the others and looked for the way to English class. I looked at them and noticed their hands were brushing ever so slightly, but they weren't holding hands. I smiled and shook my head.

"You know," I told them pointedly, "you both like each other."

I saw both their eyes widen and they blushed against their own will. I ducked my head for a second and felt my cheeks flare up myself. They had said no such thing to me. Well, we spoke about it to Roger, but he never told me directly.

I looked back at them and noticed that they both thought I was doing the other a favour. I wiggled my eyebrows at them because I knew they weren't going to be mad if this turned out well. It just seemed pointless that they shouldn't be together when they liked each other. Because I knew what it felt like to not be in a relationship with someone you liked, and it didn't feel good.

"Er," Roger stuttered, clearly having no idea what to say. "Sara, would you, uh…"

Sara brushed her dark-blonde hair behind her ear and avoided his eyes. She looked satisfyingly embarrassed.

"Mmm," she asked.

"Uh, would you, uh…"

I began laughing like I had never laughed before. Their awkwardness was too funny, and I felt like I deserved a laugh after the last couple weeks of worrying, anger and regret.

Roger smiled nervously and looked at me weirdly, for I was now bending over laughing at the two. Finally, Sara plucked up her nerves and stood on her tiptoes.

She brushed her lips lightly over Roger's cheek and said, "Yes, Roger. I would love to."

Roger was honestly redder than Sara's painted fingernails. He grabbed her hand and held it in his, and for the first time in a really long time, I felt completely happy and accomplished.

**Θθθθθθθθθ**

After English, Roger very reluctantly let go of Sara's hand so the two of us could walk to meet Percy at Science class. He met us halfway and before I could help myself, I blurted it out.

"They're dating, now!"

Roger ducked his head low to hide his red face and Percy stopped dead in his tracks, allowing a few girls to look at him. He'd been attracting a lot more attention since he came back this summer.

"You're kidding," he told me catching up to us again. "Dude," he punched Roger's arm. "Congrats, man. I know you've been aiming on that for a while. I know how it feels, trust me. That feeling when you could finally call that girl you've had a huge crush on for forever _yours_."

Roger smiled. "It feels…relieving. Now I don't have to pretend to not like her anymore."

"Well, you did a bad job at that in the first place," I laughed.

"Ben's right. I could've told and I'm not even— You know what? Never mind."

I continued laughing, but I wasn't so happy anymore. Because I had no idea what being relieved felt like. I realized I was so tired of pretending.

**Θθθθθθθθθ**

I had to leave both Percy and Roger after math; they had history, but I had chemistry. While I was walking, James and Annabeth, who were in the last class together, caught up to me.

"Hey," I sighed when they fell into step next to me.

"Hi," Annabeth mumbled.

James only gave a weak smile. Even though it was Claire who left for the summer, I felt like she took James with her, and it was him who never came back.

But, I guess today I was feeling very brave, because I decided to talk to him about it.

"James," I said, praying that my ego wasn't getting too big, "are you okay, man?"

"Fine," he grumbled quietly. "Why?"

"It's just, you know…we know that you and Claire are sort of…" I pleaded silently to Annabeth for help, and, thankfully, she caught on.

"Yeah!" Annabeth said over enthusiastically. "We've all noticed that you two have been sort of off. And I want you to know…she and Travis aren't going out. Travis is dating Katie."

_Thank you, _I mouthed. She gave me a smug look meaning _You're welcome._

With a bang, I was reminded that this was the Annabeth I'd known before Percy Jackson. The Annabeth that always helped me and who I'd been convinced liked me back.

With some difficulty, I plucked up the courage to continue the conversation. "Yeah, and you two have had a crush on each other for forever!"

"No!" he cried with a random burst of energy. "That's what you always thought! Have either of you ever heard her say it? Has she _told _any of you?"

"Well—" I began.

"Not necessarily…" Annabeth said at the exact same time.

"Exactly. So drop it."

And that was the end of our conversation.

**Θθθθθθθθθ**

"Hey, Prissy!" Anthony called out to Percy from his lunch table to ours.

At once, Percy dropped his fork and stood up. I thought it was a little odd, if you ask me, that of all the things Anthony's ever said to Percy, it was this that got him upset.

"What did you just call me?" Percy demanded with a slight look of amusement played across his face.

"That's right!" Anthony shouted feeling more confident since he had Percy's attention. "Prissy!"

"Hey, now," Percy said pointing loosely. "Only Clarisse is allowed to call me 'Prissy.'"

"Who the hell is Clarisse?"

"One of the many people who could kick your butt faster than you could say Prissy again."

Anthony looked as though he were ready to reply, but three girls rushed up to him, much to both of their displeasure.

"Hi, Percy," one of them giggled.

Percy scratched behind his head. "Uh, hey."

"I was wondering," she giggled again. "if you would, uh, like to see a movie, sometime?"

Percy's eyes widened slightly. I smirked slightly. I was waiting to see how this would turn out.

"Oh!" he responded. "I'm not sure if you knew, but I have girlfriend now, so…"

Annabeth was sitting with a steely gaze and her arms crossed. The girl who asked Percy out was not much cheerier.

"Oh," she replied coldly. "I see. Well, maybe some other time, then!" She ended their conversation on a happy note, then stalked off with her friends at her heels.

Roger whistled lightly. "Looks like someone's reelin' in the ladies."

**Θθθθθθθθθ**

After lunch, Lesley and I walked side by side to history class.

"So," she began. She grabbed my wrist in hers and lifted up my hand. Slight marks were shown from where she dug me with her nails. "I'm sorry about these."

Caught by surprise, I answered, "It's okay. Really. I-I get it."

She ran her finger over the marks there and mumbled, "I wish I didn't."

I laughed a little nervously and took her hand off my own.

"Lesley, chill. It's okay. Don't worry about it." I bumped her shoulder with mine. Little did I know the trouble it would cause.

She fell right onto Anthony, who shoved her down on the round screaming, "Watch what you're doing, jerk!"

I facepalmed. Lesley fell straight onto a nearby locker, hitting her head pretty hard.

"Dammit," I muttered. Why did I have to ruin everything?

"Come on, Les. Let's get you to the nurse."

I walked her to the nurse. She was leaning on me a little, but she wasn't terribly heavy.

"I'm so sorry," I said.

"Don't be," she smiled, "At least we're even now."


	18. Happy Valentine's Day

**A/N: TWO MORE CHAPTERS AFTER THIS. MY STORY'S COMING TO AN END, BUT I REALLY HOPE YOU ENJOYED IT. I HAVE TO SAY THAT LAST WEEK MY BROTHER CRACKED MY LAPTOP SCREEN (I KNOW), SO THERE'S A BIG BLACK SPOT ACROSS THE SCREEN. IT MADE WRITING A LITTLE MORE DIFFICULT, BUT NOT REALLY. I'M SAYING THIS CAUSE I HAVE TO GO GET IT FIXED. I'M NOT SURE WHEN EXACTLY, SO I DON'T KNOW IF IT'LL INTERFERE WITH POSTING, BUT JUST BE WARNED. **

**THERE'S MORE PERCABETH IN THIS CHAPTER, SO SORRY FOR NEGLECTING THEM :( **

**BUT I HOPE YOU LIKE THIS ONE &amp; THANKS FOR THE REVIEWS **

**DISCLAIMER: I DON'T THINK I'M GOOD ENOUGH OF A WRITER TO HAVE WRITTEN PJO SO :') **

"That doesn't go there, Ben!" Claire screeched from below me.

I sighed and looked down at her. "Remind me again why I'm even doing this? I don't even care about Valentine's Day, anyway!"

"_Because,_" Claire snapped, "I thought it would be a good time for all of us to hang out together again! Besides, you don't even have to know anything. All you have to do is put the decorations at the right places! Get down from there, let me do it."

Grumbling about how we could have always spent time at the ice cream place, I climbed down from the ladder. I sighed and looked at her. She snatched the red and white banner from my hands and moved the ladder to the correct place for it.

"Don't get too upset," warned a voice beside me. "She has good intentions."

I smiled, leaned my head back and glanced sideways at Lesley. "You're just as crazy as her, you know? You can't seriously be enjoying decorating her house for some Valentine's Day party."

"What?" she defended. "Every girl looks forward to Valentine's Day. It just might be the time her Prince Charming sweeps her off her feet."

She met my eyes and smiled. Just for the fun of it, she curtsied with an imaginary dress and began waltzing around the room with herself. She was humming a tune that sounded suspiciously like a song from Sleeping Beauty.

I rolled my eyes. "Haha. Well, newsflash, guys don't believe in that kind of stuff. Sorry to disappoint you."

She refused to let that bother her. She continued humming and dancing and pulling my hand and saying, "Come on, Ben. It'll be fun. I Promise."

She tried to pull me into dancing with her, but I relented. Reluctantly, she stopped dancing, knit her eyebrows, cocked her head and told me, "Fine. But just because you're not in the spirit," she wagged a finger in my face, "doesn't mean others aren't." She stiffened and looked over her shoulder. "Just look at Percy."

Percy had red scotch tape on his face and he was holding a foldable centrepiece upside down, very confusedly. Annabeth was laughing her head off. Percy looked over the centrepiece and grinned so wide it must've hurt.

"Stop laughing at me," he complained. "It's not funny!"

Annabeth laughed again. "Oh, yes. It is! How did you even get tape on yourself?" She peeled it off his cheeks. He yelped at the sharpness at it. "That is just too adorable," she laughed again.

Percy grabbed Annabeth's hand and twisted it so she was forced to turn. Her back was facing him. With a start, I was reminded of a point of my life when I resented Percy and couldn't believe he would treat Annabeth this way. Now, I would be surprised if he didn't. Somehow, given all the time and thought, it was easier for me to let Annabeth go. If she was so happy, so was I.

Percy leaned over Annabeth and said, "Adorable? That, I could go for."

He kissed her cheek absentmindedly, pulled a strip of tape from his face, and stuck it right no her nose. Taking a step back, he turned her around and made a fake camera with his hands.

"Hmmm," he sized her up. He snapped his fingers suddenly as if he accomplished something incredible. "Now _that's_ what I call adorable!"

He laughed briefly then began running as if he knew exactly when Annabeth would start chasing him, never once stopping to catch her breath, but laughing all the same. I'd never seen her happier.

"Or—or Roger," Lesley continued trying not to keep her eyes on Percy.

Roger and Sara were having fun setting up round tables and spreading the colored tablecloths over it, being sure to leave an 'X' where Percy and Annabeth were supposed to put their centrepieces. So far, two tables were completed with centrepieces.

Every so often, Roger would sneak up behind Sara, whisper something in her ear so none of us could hear, and she would giggle softly. At times, he even picked her up and swung her around so much, she had no choice but to hold on tightly around his neck and scream into his shoulder.

"Even James and Claire are a little back on track."

I turned my head to look at them next. They were supposed to decorate the doors and seat the chairs around the table. To be honest, it was still a little awkward between them. Claire had convinced James she and some guy named Travis weren't dating, but he didn't seem to completely buy it.

They were sticking on the decorations for the door, but Claire couldn't reach all the way to the top. She looked at James with innocent eyes and lifted her hands up, smiling insanely.

James let out a bark of laughter. "Not a chance, Princess. Just give it to me."

He took the black and white star shaped decoration and hung it over the door. He slapped his hands together once he was done. "That was easy."

Claire stuck her tongue out at him. He grabbed her hand and pulled her slightly. "Let's go for more chairs."

"Only if we can sit on them," she groaned.

He threw his hands up. "This party was _your _idea, Princess."

"Aren't Princesses supposed to be spoilt?" Claire tested, folding her arms.

"You're a special kind of princess."

"Why would that be?"

"Because you're not," he smirked. "Now, try not to lose your shoe on the way to those chairs."

Claire huffed and walked out the door. James chuckled lightly before following her.

"So you see, Benjamin, just because you're the Grinch of Valentine's Day, doesn't mean—"

"I am not!"

"—doesn't mean you have the right to disown the spirit for the rest of the male species. Now if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to finish _our _part of the job."

I groaned. We'd gotten the hardest job—the ceiling decorations. It consisted of moving the ladder everywhere and trying to hold up a decoration, despite gravity, and tape it up. Not to mention _remembering _where everything was supposed to go.

"Let's go, Prince Charming," she grabbed my hand.

"You sound like James."

"Right. Sorry. I meant the _frog._"

"Very funny."

She giggled. "Oh, why thank you."

I was about to respond something cocky when I heard Claire scream. Instantly, Roger and Sara stopped talking and Percy and Annabeth stopped their fits of laughter to glance at each other worriedly. Percy reached for his pocket, but not before Claire ran into room again screaming—with absolute delight.

"Guess what, guess what, guess what?" she squealed.

I saw Annabeth shake her head and Percy drop his hand from his pocket saying something about false alarms being deadly. I shook it off. I gave up a long time ago trying to understand those two.

"James and I just had the most amazing idea!"

James ran into the room with two fold up chairs under his arm saying, "It was not my idea at all!"

He threw me a sorry glance and set down the chairs. "Let's make our dance…a couples' dance!"

"A what?" I choked out.

"You know! You're only allowed to come if you have a date!"

"How is that fair?"

"Ben, if you want to come to the party, ask a girl out," she replied sternly.

"Can't I get special treatment since I helped set it up?"

"I second that," Lesley raised her hand.

"Absolutely not. Well! Now that that's settled…back to work everyone. I'm going to send out the message to the people we invited. Tonight will be _great!_"

"Happy Valentine's Day," I muttered to Lesley.

She sighed. "Happy Valentine's Day."

An hour later, we finished decorating Claire's spare room and sat down under our tree in the park.

"So who are you guys taking tonight?" Claire asked us.

"You're kidding right?" Roger asked, taking Sara's hand.

"I'm taking Annabeth, of course," Percy said.

Annabeth tangled her fingers with his in the grass. "I don't remember getting an invitation," she challenged.

Percy looked at the rest of us. I raised my eyebrow at him and gestured for him to go ahead.

"Hey, Annabeth?" he asked.

"Mmm?" she said into his shoulder, trying not to laugh.

"Well, you see that dinner, party thing that freak show is having?"

"I know that thing."

"Well, turns out you've got to take a date."

"Oh, really?"

"Aha. And I think I found the perfect girl to take. And who better to share the secret girl with than my best friend?"

"The girl, maybe."

He shrugged. "That's true. But, you see, what happens if she's both."

"Then I guess you're having some problems."

"So do you think I should ask her out?"

"I think you should take your chances."

Percy smiled. "Great. Do you know Rachel's number by any chance?"

"Perseus Jackson!" Annabeth cried.

Percy laughed out loud. "I'm kidding. I just love watching you get jealous. It boosts a guy's self-confidence."

"I was not jealous!"

"So you and Rachel just—"

"Shut up, Percy, or you'll really have to find a date to the dance!"

"Okay, okay," he mumbled.

The rest of us were laughing so hard we were silent. How did we not know Rachel had a crush on Percy? And it made Annabeth jealous?

Claire cleared her throat. "And you, Ben?"

I groaned for the millionth time that day. "We're all in this together?" I asked Lesley.

"I suppose. Better than those cocky jocks, anyway."

"Ouch," I said without feeling.

Claire's eyes twinkled but she offered no words to us. "James?"

"Princess?"

"Who will be accompanying you to the dinner/party?"

"Oh, I don't know."

"I think you'd better figure it out. It is in a couple hours."

He smiled softly at her. "Your Majesty?"

"I'd be honoured."

James smiled wide for the first time since Claire came back. He stood up, brushed off his legs and held his hand out to her.

"Your carriage awaits."

Claire giggled, accepted his hand and walked away, waving at us princess style.

"I better get going, too," Roger announced. "Want a ride, Sara?"

"Definitely," she said, shooting up and walking to his house first, since it was near the park. I decided I didn't want to follow them.

Percy and Annabeth looked at each other. Neither of them seemed worried about getting dressed.

"Fro-yo?" Percy asked.

"Fro-yo. Race you there!"

The two of them raced off without another word.

"And then there were two," Claire muttered.

"You aren't upset about going to the dance with me, are you?"

"Just a little," she shrugged.

I pouted, but it had no effect on her. "Put you lip back in," she smiled, slapping my chin.

"Ow!" I said, though it didn't hurt at all. I grabbed her hand and said in a deep voice, "I'm not all bad."

"Oohhh, that voice is, though!"

I ducked my head, trying to hide my reddening face.

"No way!" she announced, "Ben, are you _blushing?_"

"No!" I said. I leaned over closer to her and whispered, "Whenever you're ready to go, just let me know, since you're having so much fun making fun of me."

Her voice dropped to barely a whisper, too. "It is fun."

"I think we have different definitions of 'fun.'"

"Oh yeah? What's yours?"

Without thinking, I brought my head up and pushed myself forward until I was kissing her. I heard her gasp in surprise, before she stiffened. I pulled back quickly. Oh, God. What did I just do? I wasn't even attracted to Lesley! Was I? I didn't mean to kiss her, I just had to in that moment. I probably just ruined our friendship right then and there. I closed my eyes and cursed myself silently, backing away.

Suddenly, Lesley's hands were behind my neck. She pulled me forward until our foreheads were touching.

"Well, will you look at that," she told me so only I could hear. "The frog just turned into Prince Charming."


	19. The News

**A/N: I KNOW IT'S LATE, BUT I REALLY WANTED TO POST THIS. I DON'T REALLY HAVE ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS EXCEPT FOR ONE BIG THING. PERCY IS SUPPOSED TO BE GONE BY NOW, I KNOW. BUT FOR THE SAKE OF THE STORY, LET'S SAY HE ISN'T. HE WILL STILL GO MISSING &amp; THERE WILL BE A CHAPTER AFTER THE GIANT WAR. **

**WELL, THANKS A THOUSAND FOR YOUR REVIEWS. THEY MOTIVIATE ME, AND I'M NOT JUST SAYING THAT FOR MORE. I REALLY APPRECIATE THAT YOU GUYS DO THAT.**

**DISCLAIMER: WHEN I OWN PJO, I'LL SHARE WITH YOU GUYS, KAY?**

"Last night was the most exhausting night of my life!" Claire said dropping into the only empty seat around the table, next to James.

Next to James sat Annabeth, then Percy. I sat across from Percy. Lesley sat next to me, Sara next to her, and Roger next to Sara. After last night's party, we were all so tired, we crashed right in Claire's living room. When we woke up around nine, we went to our respective houses and planned to meet up at Dessert for Breakfast in the next hour.

I wanted to walk Lesley home, but she got a ride with Sara. We never talked about the kiss. Not even once. She acted as if nothing had happened, and I didn't know how she did it. The kiss was all I thought about. Her hands behind my neck, drawing me closer so slowly it was agonizing. And when my lips finally meet hers, I don't know. Most people describe a kiss where they forgot their name, and couldn't remember or focus on anything. I beg to differ.

I was aware of everything. Her hands were as delicate as the kiss had been. Once, I felt her eyelashes brush on my cheek. My hands were on the small of her back, because at that moment, she was my anchor. If I didn't hold onto her, I would lose it. I never wanted to let go. And forget your name? Forget it. I kept saying our names over and over in my head. Ben and Les. Les and Ben. Lesley and Benjamin. Everything was perfect.

She broke the kiss like it was the easiest thing to do.

"I have to go get ready," she muttered.

Avoiding my gaze, she stood up and hurried off. I was still leaning over in the position I was kissing her. I didn't even understand what had happened. We didn't talk about it at the dance, and, for most of the night, it was awkward.

Now, she sat beside me and talked and laughed and joked, but never meeting my eyes. I was too miserable to even try to talk to her. I felt like a jerk and the stupidest person on the planet. I should have never kissed her. But then, why did she kiss me back?

A voice in the back of my head tells me it could be because of watching Percy and Annabeth flirt all day, but I refused to listen to it.

"At least the guests had fun," Sara suggested, rubbing her eyes. Roger smirked at her tired face dropping into her hands.

"Well, I hope you've learned your lesson to never throw another party," Annabeth announced, falling into Percy's hands.

"I second Annabeth," Lesley said.

Her remark felt like a slap in the face. I knew it was awkward at the party, but I'd had my fair share of fun. I was fed up with everything going on—watching Annabeth with Percy, Lesley avoiding me. I had to take a couple silent deep breaths to control my temper.

"I third it," Percy yawned.

Everyone except for me laughed. Annabeth laughed harder than most, and lifted her chin up to look at Percy.

"Seaweed Brain," she told him, smiling.

Percy threw his head back, but looked at Annabeth through the corner of his eyes.

"All yours, baby" Percy says in a deep voice.

I wait for Lesley to find my hand, but it never comes. I clench my hand into a fist to stop from screaming.

Annabeth replies sarcastically, "Lucky me."

"You said it, not me," winked Percy.

Annabeth scoffed and rolled her eyes, but she grabbed Percy's hand and played with his fingers absentmindedly.

Roger turns and begins to arm wrestle with James across Sara and Claire, who were cheering their respective boyfriends on. Percy and Annabeth were whispering. Annabeth was still fooling around with his fingers, and Percy twirled her hair around his finger. His face became contorted with horror when it tangled and he couldn't get it off. He kept looking at Annabeth to see if she felt him pulling at her hair.

I put my head on the table and pretended to sleep so I wouldn't have to deal with Lesley. After an eternity, the waitress came and served our smoothies which we ordered ten minutes ago.

Percy's was a dark blue color. Annabeth's a pale pink; she ordered strawberry. James got a banana and ordered the same for Claire since she wasn't here when we ordered. Roger and Sara shared their strawberry and mango smoothies. I sipped slowly on a peach one, while Lesley laughed over a strawberry.

"Oohh!" Percy sang. "Annabeth, I wanna taste yours!"

Annabeth raised her eyebrows, and moved her glass from his reach.

"I don't think so," she said sternly.

Percy looked at Sara's being shared with Roger, and his eyes quickly averted. He looked at Lesley and declared, "Lesley'll share, won't you, Les?"

He grabbed her glass and took two big gulps. In front of her, I saw her hands twitch closer to mine, but I conveniently began to fiddle with my phone. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Claire watch me with her trademark glint in her eye, but at the moment, I couldn't care less.

Gritting my teeth, I pushed my smoothie away from me and towards Percy, who sprouted a wolfish grin. I stood up, grabbed my phone, and said loudly, "I have to go. Sorry, guys. I'll talk to you later."

I started walking away, but not before I heard Claire say, "Okay, Les. Spill. What did you do to him?"

I quickened my pace and flew through the doors of Dessert for Breakfast. My feet knew where I was going before I did. Panting, I saw myself standing in front of the Tree. Our Tree.

I collapsed on the ground, not believing that I'd just created that scene. I didn't even care that passersby were looking at me curiously. I put my hands over my head to block the sunlight and stifle myself from screaming.

I hear footsteps running, probably running the park's length a few times for exercise. But then they come to a stop.

"Benjamin, what the hell was that all about?" Lesley asked me.

"Lesley, please leave me alone."

"No." she sits down in the grass.

"Suit yourself," I told her, moving my head the other direction.

""Ben, I—"

"Forget it, Lesley."

"No, listen. I'm sorry…"

"I said forget it!"

"Ben, for God's sake, just listen to me!"

I didn't answer. She took a shaky breath before she continued.

"You're probably wondering what's my problem," she slowly began. "why I've been ignoring you. You kissed me, Ben. That's my problem."

"You kissed me back!" The words taste like poison in my mouth and sound like a curse in my ears.

"That's the thing! Don't you get it? I wasn't _supposed _to kiss you back! I wasn't supposed to _want _to! You're supposed to be my best friend, and the person I go to when I have problems with boys! I never once thought that _you _might be that boy!"

"Well, make up your mind, Lesley, because I can't keep going on not knowing! It's not fair to me! I don't just want to be the guy that solves all your problems, but if that's all you want me to be, just tell me! Don't kiss me, then avoid me and leave me all confused!"

"I was jus—"

"No! All I've thought about since yesterday was what happened, and does she like me? And does she hate me? And what have I done? You don't get to leave me in the dark like that!"

Somewhere in the middle of my rant, I sat up and stared at her. I wanted to feel anger coursing through my veins, but her eyes were sad and she looked at me as though I was the one breaking her heart and not the other way around. I shake my head.

Her eyes filled, but she was blinking quickly. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't know! I thought-I thought I was doing you a favour. I didn't-I didn't know!" She started to cry, and I sighed. I lost that round. I couldn't leave her like that. I couldn't stay angry at her.

I pulled her to my side, and her head fell into my lap. She couldn't seem to stop crying, and it started to make me nervous, but then Percy and Annabeth run into the clearing.

Percy has out a pen and was looking around wildly. His other hand grasped Annabeth's, who was holding a 12 inch ruler in the air. She looked as panicked as Percy did, yet they seemed to calm each other.

"Claire!" Annabeth shouted behind her shoulder.

From the trees, Claire ran out, but she wasn't as fast as Percy and Annabeth.

Percy nudged Annabeth with his elbow, but that seemed to speak for them. Percy ran one direction, while Annabeth ran the other, gesturing to Claire to follow her. When Claire saw us, though, she stopped dead in her tracks. She looked helplessly to us, then to Annabeth

Making up her mind, she flashed me a smile, mouthed, "You'll be fine," and followed Annabeth, holding a pencil instead of a ruler.

When they were all out of sight, Lesley muttered in my lap, "They're weird."

I laughed. "Yeah, they are."

Sniffing, Lesley straightened herself and took a deep breath, looking straight into my eyes.

"Don't pretend that you don't need time to think about all of this, too. The other day you were in love with Annabeth."

I didn't answer her. I couldn't, without lying. The truth was, I was pretty sure I didn't have a crush on Annabeth just the other day. I know I did at some point, but something inside me told me that it ended a while ago. That was why I was pretty okay with her and Percy dating. I couldn't answer her because I didn't have to think about it. I remembered holding her hand when I was watching Annabeth and Percy flirt, but I wondered how much of it was because of them, and how much of it was because of _her. _I couldn't answer her because I knew what I wanted, and I wanted her. To be with her.

"I just have to think," she said in between the silence.

I nodded my head, but it was barely noticeable.

"Thank you," she whispered. She stood up, was about to walk away, then stopped. Holding her hair behind her ear, she bent down and kissed my cheek. I felt it tingling all the way home.

"Hello?" I muttered into my phone, shaking the sleep from my voice. After I reached home from the park, I collapsed straight onto my bed, still tired.

"Meet at James's, like, now. I have to tell you guys something."

"What's wrong?" I asked sitting straight up.

"Oh, it's nothing important, really. It's just something you guys will want to know sooner rather than later. Anyway, I'm going to call Lesley now. Bye!"

"Wait!" I called before she could hang up. "Let me call her."

I could almost see her signature glint in her eyes. "Oh? Okay, then. See you in a few."

Rolling my eyes, I ended the call and clicked on Lesley's name, calling her.

"What's up?" she said, answering the phone.

Warmth spread through me that she knew it was me calling before I realized that was stupid because my number was saved in her phone.

"Meet at James in five."

"Why?"

"Don't know. Claire stuff."

She sighed. "Yeah, okay. See you later."

She ended the call before I could. I didn't know why I wanted to call her. We didn't say anything special. I just didn't want Claire to pester her, I guessed.

Putting on a new shirt, I left my house after informing my mom where I was going. I walked the short distance to James's house. When I got there, everyone except for Lesley was there.

"Yo, Ben! Catch!" He threw me a can of soda which I caught with one hand. I sighed at a sip of the refreshment.

I settled myself into his two-person seat, since he and Claire were on the bed, and Roger and Sara on the floor, in the corner, as usual.

"So, Ben," Claire sang. "What went down between you and Lesley?"

Roger and James laughed at my face; Sara raised her eyebrows suggestively.

"N-nothing!" I stuttered.

"Mhmm," Sara giggled.

Before they could finish, however, Lesley walked in. Her eyes scanned the room, and she realized where she would sit. She moved slightly awkwardly, settling herself on the other side of the couch. Roger and James stifled laughs, but Claire shut them up.

"So what's the news?" Lesley asked.

Claire's eyes shifted to the bed so it wouldn't meet anyone's.

"Well," she cleared her throat. "Due to reasons I cannot mention, Percy and Annabeth are spending the rest of the year in, uh, New York. At Camp."

"What?" I exclaimed.

"They could've said bye!" someone else shouted.

"They couldn't guys. I'm sorry. They left immediately with our friend, Nico. Sorry."

We were about to burst open again, but she interrupted us. "Wait, there's more. I'm, uh, considering going to be a year-rounder, too."

Everyone was silent except for James. "Goddammit, Claire!" Claire, for some reason, looked at the ceiling frightfully. "Why are you all like that? The three of you! So mysterious, like no one could know! We're your friends, you know!" He stood up and kicked the bed.

"What does that mean for us?" He gestured to everyone in the room. "What does that mean for _us?_" He gestured between the two of them alone.

Claire looked near tears. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you! It's just…I'm safer there, and you're safer if I'm there! Please don't ask me how or why. If I'm there I'll be safe, and I'll be happy, granted I will be away from you guys. And I love you all so, so much, but you have to understand. It's my dad, it's all of you, it's me! We'll all be safer.

No, you can't help me. The only thing you could do is trust me, okay? I would still visit and everything. I just really need to think about it!"

She jumped up and walked out the door, leaving the rest of us staring at it, dumbfounded.


	20. A Surprising New Start

**A/N: BEFORE YOU GET MAD AT ME OR ANYTHING, I WARNED YOU, OKAY? AFTER I STARTED WRITING THIS LAST CHAPTER, MY LAPTOP OFFICIALLY WENT IN. I'VE BEEN WAITING TO GET IT BACK, BUT IT WAS TAKING TOO LONG, SO I STOLE MY MOM'S AND WROTE FROM THERE. I'M SORRY FOR THE WAIT BUT THIS ONE IS AN EXTRA THOUSAND WORDS AS AN APOLOGY? ALSO, I'VE CHANGED THE NAME. I KNOW IT'S ENDING, SO WHY CHANGE TIT NOW? I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT FOR A WHILE BUT COULDN'T THINK OF A GOOD ENOUGH NAME, BUT I THINK THE NEW ONE SUITS IT BETTER. BESIDES, HIGH SCHOOL STORIES ARE CLICHE, NO OFFENSE TO ANYONE, AND I THINK THIS WILL DRAW MORE PEOPLE TO WANT TO READ IT.**

**THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER. MY JOURNEY HAS ENDED...EXCEPT NOT REALLY. TAKING ADVICE FROM SOMEBODY THAT COMMENTED (I'M SORRY I DON'T KNOW YOUR USERNAME, I COULDN'T FIND IT IN THE COMMENTS, BUT THIS IS FOR YOU, OKAY?) THERE WILL BE A CHAPTER OR TWO OR THREE IN CLAIRE'S POV. **

**DUE TO LAPTOP STRESS, I'M NOT SURE WHEN IT WILL BE POSTED, BUT IT WILL BE POSTED. fFOR THE MILLIONTH TIME, THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING ON MY STORY. I REALLY APPRECIATE IT SO MUCH, AND IF ANYONE NEEDS TO TALK OR ANYTHING OR GIVE IDEAS, IDK, YOU CAN PM ME. I'M NOT A STALKER OR SERIAL KILLER, THOUGH I HAVE CONSIDERED IT. **

**THIS IS FOR YOU GUYS. CAN I EVER SAY THANKS ENOUGH?**

**DISCLAIMER: IF I EVER GET THE CHANCE TO OWN PJO/HOO I'LL SHARE WITH YOU GUYS. PROMISE.**

"_Yes, _James," I sighed. "We _are _doing the right thing."

"I know, I know," he answered. "I'm just worried about her, that's all."

"Yeah, well first we have to find her," Roger butted in.

Sara nodded. "This airport is huge."

"She'll be okay, right?" James asked.

Lesley, who was standing on the end of the group—also the furthest place from me—leaned over so she could look in James's eyes. "She loves that Camp Whatever. We have to trust her this time. She'll be fine. Trust me."

James offered a weak smile, but anybody who passed by could tell he was no more comforted than he was the day we made the decision. In a way, it wasn't hard at all; in a way, it was the hardest decision we ever had to make. It was right after she'd stormed out on us. Although the decision was already made, and we knew it, we had to say it out loud. We had to let her go. If that was what she wanted, it didn't matter what we wanted. If we were really her friends, we would trust her, we would let her go to New York.

It wasn't Claire leaving that was such the bad thing. It was the not knowing when she would come back. She had told us that her Camp was strict on technology and that it would be hard for her to contact us, but as soon as she could get out, she would come straight here and straight to us. Considering what happened last time, it was a little hard to believe her, but what else could we do?'

I remembered when Percy and Annabeth left. I'd, we'd all been furious with them. But now, I sort of thanked them for it. I don't know how we could have said goodbye to them twice.

"Hi, guys," a small voice said behind us.

James never moved faster. She was in her arms probably before she could blink twice. She recovered quickly, though, and her arms flew around his neck in an instant. They embraced each other for a couple moments more before Claire broke away, red as a tomato.

She hugged each of us passionately, but not as much or as long as with James. And when she said goodbye to everyone, she was by his side again. Then she tooka deep breath.

Holding up her hand , she said, "Spare me any last minute begging-me-to-stay speeches, because I don't think I could handle it, and I really don't want to break down."

We all smiled. Of course Claire would still be as diva-ish as she could be, even when we were saying goodbye for God-knows-how-long.

"Besides," she added smiling along with us, "I'm going home, so I'll be happy, and when we talked you told me that's what you wanted, right? For me to be happy?"

That wiped the smile off my face. It wasn't because I didn't want her to be happy; it was because she said she was going home. I knew it was selfish, but for so long, wherever we were was her home. I could tell James felt the same way from the sadness in his eyes, but he kept his smile plastered on his face. Even though it became weaker by the second.

"Of course, Claire," Lesley said finally. I stiffened.

It was harder to be around her, now that she made her decision. I understood, but I really didn't want to. But what could I do? I couldn't force her to be with me.

Determined not to let her see my uneasiness, I smiled again. "As long as you're hapy, we all are."

Claire nodded and pursed her lips. "Well, I-I should go."

She started to walk away, her fingers slipping from James's, but she didn't get very far. James's fingers tightened before she could get any farther. He pulled her straight into him and he smashed his lips onto hers. Her hands flew behind his neck, just as it did when her hugged her, except she pulled him to her with more force. I was never a big fan of the romantics or anything like that. But I knew, for them, it was the perfect way to say goodbye.

I threw the ball up for the fifty seventh time. I knew. I was keeping count. Missing it for the tenth time, I finally sat up. I shook the drowsiness from my face. Grabbing my phone from the other side of my bed, I checked the time. 3:54. I had six minutes to get there. I looked in the mirror. I had on a pair of cargo pants and a blue hoodie, but it would do. I was only seeing my friends, anyway. But it would be awkward, I knew that, too. It would be the first time all of us would be together since Claire left a week ago. It'd been a whole week since I'd seen them, since I'd seen Lesley.

I stood up, messed with my hair, gave up, and left my house without any warning. The bright sunlight blinded me for a moment before I recovered. Slipping my hands into my pocket and checking for my phone, I walked the short distance to Roger's house. When I was by the park, I looked over to our Tree. Swallowing, I walked up to it, knowing full well it would mean my being late. But I had to see it up close. I would make me feel better. It always did. Of course, most of the time I was with my friends. I tied not to laugh. Fifty percent of _wasn't _suffering from heartbreak. James was, for sure. Claire, probably. Me? Definitely. Les? I didn't want to know.

Squinting my eyes into the sun, I noticed someone was standing there. Striding forward still, I realized too late who it was. I gulped back my pride and stood next to her. I wondered if she knew it was the exact spot she'd called me her 'Prince Charming.'

I decided I didn't want to know that either. I didn't speak, and neither did she. So we stood there, side by side, not saying a word, and not looking at each other. The silence spoke more than we had in last couple weeks.

By five, we were all there. We were all reacquainted, and I was the happiest Id'd been in a week.

"Yo, Ben," James called. "Think fast!"

I didn't think fast enough, because the basketball he threw at me it me square in the back. I laughed before palming it.

"Oh, you're going to regret that."

"Come get me, then!"

I was about to throw the ball when his phone rang. He shouted, "Time out!" and looked down at his screen.

He frowned deeply.

"No Caller ID," he informed us. "Decline." He pressed the red button on his phone, but the phone rang again instantly. Frustrated, he hung up again and put his phone on silent.

As sson as he hung up, though, Sara's phone rang.

"That's funny," she said from under Roger's arm. She held up her screen for us all to see. It read No Caller ID.

"don't answer it," Roger said warily.

"I won't," she said and pushed her phone in her pocket. Roger's phone rang, but he didn't even wait for it to ring for two seconds before he declined the call. I did the same.

When Lesley's phone rang, too, she pressed the big green button, despite our protests. She put it on speaker to please us, though.

"Hello?"

"Thank the gods! Why are none of you answering your phones? I'm already in serious trouble for _using _one!"

"Claire!" Five voices filled the air.

In the background, I heard someone scream something to her.

"I don't care, Lacey!" Claire said. "Piper and Drew could be fighting all they want, just _don't _let them find out I took the phone!"

We heard the vague speaking again, then nothing,

"Sorry about that. We're just not supposed to use our phones here, and—"

"How are you, Oh my God, I can't believe we're actually hearing from you!" Sara exclaimed. "Are you okay? Are you coming already? Not that I don't want ot see you, I just thought it would be longer—"

"Stop!" she whisper-screamed into the phone. "I don't have time to talk."

"Then why'd you call?" she asked, hurt obvious in her tone.

"I had to tell you. Annabeth doesn't want you to worry, but she's not in any proper state right now. Piper and Drew are at it every waking moment, since Piper took her spot as counselor. _And _these two guys, Leo and Jason, just showed up the other day, and, well I can't really tell you, but…Okay, let me start over. Basically, well…point of my story is…Percy's missing."

I kept waiting for someone to scream at me an laugh in my face, but there was silence on both lines.

"But…" I said, "But Annabeth's been missing before, right? She can find him, and she can—"

"No, this is different! When Annabeth went missing, Percy knew where he was going, and for the most part, knew where she was. We have an idea where he might be, except no idea _where _that place is. And the only other person who knows has amnesia, and, well, it's bad. I'm not supposed to tell you guys. Orders from Annabeth, Chiron and Piper, but I had to. You deserve to know."

She waited for us to respond, but before any of us could she said, "Crap! I've got to go. I'll try to call as soon as I can, but I don't know when that'll be. Love you guys."

She hung up.

**What seemed like ten thousand months later, but was really only about 7 or 8.**

I was under the Tree again, but this time I was nervous. Lesley asked me to meet her here, and I had no idea for what. We had been getting on considerably better, but not exactly well.

I looked at my phone for the fifth time in the last minute, and the clock _still _wouldn't proceed to the next one.

Then, "Sorry I'm late," a quick hug and silence.

"Uh, why—"

"I hate that we're not speaking to each other. I get it if you hate me, but at least pretend to like me because it's killing me!" she blurted out.

I was unable to bite back a harsh bark of laughter.

"Hate you? Lesley, I've tried, but I don't think I can."

"But you—"

"I was heartbroken and depressed, but you ha a valid reason." I shrugged. "There was nothing I could do about it."

She stared at me, her mouth slightly open. Then she shook her head.

"You are so…"

"Look. I'm sorry I've been avoiding you. It's just been kind of hard, okay?"

She nodded. "Do you think he's dead?" she asked me out of the blue.

I was taken aback, but I knew what she meant.

"I don't know what to think. We've only heard from her a couple times, but she seems to think he'll be okay, so…"

"I don't know what they've gotten themselves into. Their whole _group. _It's weird."

"I established that the day I met Percy Jackson. God, that was forever ago."

I remembered hating him, wishing I'd never see him again, having the biggest crush on Annabeth Chase.

"I know, right?" Lesley's laugh filled my ears. "I was supposed to be his tutor!"

I laughed along with her, remembering that day. "That's crazy," she finished.

She leaned against the trunk of the Tree and, soon, both of us were engaged in conversation as if we hadn't spent months avoiding each other.

"Hello, there!" Sara cied running in front of us.

Roger skidded to a halt beside her. "We thought we'd find you here."

Lesley and I laughed. "Well, you two chose the wrong day to not come to our social gatherings at my house," Roger said.

We exchanged a glance. We were supposed to meet at Roger's, but Lesley asked me to meet her here, and I agreed without a second check.

"Why's that?"

Then I heard her laugh. My eyes widened, and she was in front of us holding hands with an elated James.

"Oh, my God!" Lesley and I cried. We threw ourselves into Claire's arms, squeezing her until she couldn't breathe.

"I missed you so much!" she told us, beaming at the five of us.

A series of "Yeah, rights," "Me toos," and "Of course you did" pierced the air.

"Charming as always." She smiled even wider. "I have a surprise for yo guys," she continued looking at each of us in the eye.

"I think we've had enough surprises," Roger said folding his arms into his chest.

"Not for this!" Claire squealed.

And out stepped Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson looking very pale, with cuts all over their bodies (surprise, surprise); they looked like they were dying with the biggest smiles. They looked horrible, but it was clear they felt the opposite.

For a moment, everyone was in shock. Then the eight of us, finally reunited, were screaming, laughing, crying, hugging, talking, and slapping.

After at least half an hour of a very surprising reunion, someone dropped the bomb.

"Where were you?" I didn't even know who asked it. It could have been me.

He shook his head. Unsurprisingly, he said, "Top secret."

We were about to complain, but Annabeth's voice rang through our ears. "Guys, we only just got back home in New York and we came to visit you as soon as everything was taken care of, so don't complain. We can't tell you."

And it was final. You would think no more surprises were even _possible _right? Wrong.

Four gorgeous teenagers came to join us. They knew Claire, Percy, and Annabeth, but I'd never seen any of them before.

One of them had dark skin, darkish hair that curled and frizzed around her shoulders, and hazel brown eyes. She wore a pair of jeans and a purple t-shirt. She looked stunning.

Another had recently cut blonde hair and a scar on his lip. His eyes were a deep blue color, hidden behind a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

His hands were locked with a super model. At east, I suspected she was one. Her skin was perfectly tanned. Her eyes switch from blue to green to hazel to a darker brown in the sunlight. Her hair was cut unevenly an put into an untidy braid, a feather stuck into it, and several strands of hair sticking out. What's even more, is that she more torn jeans, and a bright orange shirt. How she could pull off looking good was beyond me.

The final person was very tall and very muscular. He sort of scared me. His hands fumbled around the hem of his shirt, as if he was uncomfortable. He had a trace of Chinese in his face, but it was still odd that he was embarrassed. Most guys that looked like that at school were confident and cocky.

"Uh, who're they?" James asked, scratching behind his head.

"Oh, right!"

"Guys, this is Frank, Hazel, Jason, and Piper." She pointed to each person respectively. "And this is Lesley, Ben, Roger, Sara, and James."

Piper laughed sweetly. "Oh, _this _is James."

James raised an eyebrow at Claire red face, but said nothing.

"These guys really helped me out," Percy said.

"_Us,_" corrected Annabeth. "But, yeah. They helped us find Percy.

"Of course," Piper said, looking pointedly at Claire, "You weren't supposed to know he was missing."

Claire stuck her tongue out at her.

"So," Jason clapped his hands. "How about frozen yoghurt?"

"Sounds good," Hazel mumbled.

"I second," Frank agreed, smiling.

The rest of us murmured in agreement, and we strode off with three old friends and four practically strangers. Lesley and I followed behind everyone, saying we'd catch up. Piper and Claire exchanged knowing looks and gathered everyone out of the park.

"Well, everything turned out good," Lesley told me.

"Well," I leaned over. "Almost everything."

I don't know who kissed who, but it was perfect. When we pulled away, I said, "Don't run away from me again."

"I won't. I promise."

She held out her pink and I hooked it with my own. Turning our pinky swear so that we were holding hands, I thought back to months ago, when Percy and Annabeth had just gotten together. I vaguely remembered Roger and Percy saying how happy they were because their crushes could finally be called _theirs. _

I'd been miserable. But now, I understood. Because I could call Lesley mine now. And I was completely and utterly happy for the first time in months.


	21. The Hospital

**A/N: THIS ONE IS FOR YOU ALL. THANKS FOR STICKING WITH ME THROUGHOUT THIS WHOLE STORY. THIS PIECE ISN'T QUITE FINISHED, SO THERE WILL BE ANOTHER CHAPTER IN CLAIRE'S POV. THIS CHAPTER ISN'T ALL THAT EITHER, BUT I DON'T THINK IT'S THAT BAD. THANKS FOR YOUR REVIEWS AGAIN, LOVELY READERS.**

**DISCLAIMER: I'VE APPLIED TO OWN PJO, BUT THEY HAVEN'T GOTTEN BACK TO ME YET.**

Claire's POV

Half goddess, half human: that's what I was told I was. My thoughts? No way, That's crazy, Maybe not _that _crazy, Maybe just a little believable, It makes sense, It might actually be true, What if it is true?, It must be true, it would be a hard lie to come up with, It _is _true, all the way to Thank God it's true. Maybe I'm not crazy after all. That would be a relief. For so many years I thought something was wrong with me.

I saw giants swinging around baseball bats and eating other weird creatures, a guy with at least one hundred arms, even colorful old ladies with wings. I didn't mean colorful as in they wear a lot of colors. No, I meant their _feathers _and _wings _ were a certain color. I'm sorry, but if you don't think that's out of the ordinary, then your life is seriously warped.

They explained it to me when I woke up in the hospital two days after I abandoned my friends and my crush to come to some Camp for an explanation. You might think it's selfish, right? But I don't think you understand. I didn't want to go with them to their camp. At least, not without my other friends. But for all my life, I was seeing these things, these freaks. I only ever told my dad, and every time, he looked at me very worried, and told me that my imagination was even wilder than my mother's.

That always shut me up. I believed my mom died in a car accident right after I was born. Any story that had to do with my mom, I gobbled up, swallowing and digesting each word carefully. Other than for a pendant that no one knows about, those memories are the only things I have left of her.

Anyway, I eventually stopped telling my dad about them. I must have been imagining it. I mean, I was the only person in the world seeing them, and there was no possible explanation as to why I was seeing them. Eventually, I learned not to let my imagination get the best of me. I hardly saw any weird things.

Then, one day when two of my friends came back from their camp, they brought one of the freak creatures. It had one big eye right in the middle of his forehead. I remember shrieking and trying not to let that thing near me. So when Annabeth told me privately that she saw the one eye, too. That they all did, I wavered.

I mean, I had agreed to go with them. But I also privately agreed that I would run _away _from them as soon as possible. Really, you couldn't blame me. There were explosions everywhere and they were acting plain _weird. _Well, weirder than usual.

But they saw it too. Finally, _finally. _The wave of relief that coursed through me couldn't be described as a wave. More like a tsunami. I thought something was mentally wrong with me! But, no!

I was thinking that maybe I should go, just to hear what they had to say. And _then_ I'd run away. Annabeth noticed my unease, like she noticed everything else around her—well almost everything, but that's a _whole _different story.

"Look, Claire," she'd told me, "I know this is hard for you to believe, but I…I could tell you about your mom."

We had just run away from a burning building and chased with fire balls, but what Annabeth said scared me the most.

"That's impossible! She's dead! My mom—she died."

"Just trust me! I don't know exactly who she is, but I have a pretty good idea."

I opened my mouth to answer. I didn't understand how Annabeth could use my mom against me like that. She should have known how emotional that subject was for me, even though I never knew her. I couldn't believe that Annabeth would go so far as to use my dead mother against me.

Then reason took doubt's place. She wouldn't, that's what. Annabeth was always sharing secrets with Percy, and vice versa. But despite that, she really was a good friend, and she would never in her right mind do anything like that. One thing you should know about Annabeth Chase: she's always in her right mind.

She might be telling the truth, and that was enough. I didn't ask any questions, I just trusted my friend, and put my life in her hands.

**ΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩΩ**

I awoke in a hospital two days later. I remember opening my eyes, seeing sunlight, and closing them back immediately. The pounding in my head didn't agree with the opening of my eyes, much less the sun.

I heard voices coming from the back of me, then the slamming of a door.

"I only hope that she doesn't freak out too much," Annabeth's voice said. "I can't help being nervous. You remember what happened with Nico."

Percy's voice answered, "Come on, Annie. Nico only went all rebellious because I got Bianca killed. No one that Claire loved died." _My mother._

"Percy, you did _not _kill Bianca. Stop it."

To be honest, I was more surprised that Annabeth didn't get mad when Percy called her 'Annie' than when they talk about killing some Bianca chick.

I know it sounds horrible, but I didn't mean to eavesdrop. Seriously! That's why when I thought I was intruding in some personal stuff—the Bianca killing business—I stopped pretending to be asleep.

Remembering the headache I got earlier, instead of trying to move slowly, I threw myself upwards. When I re-thought it, it might have been easier to move slowly.

"Holy Hephaestus, Claire!" Percy exclaimed, cursing.

I hardly heard the rest of him grumbling. I was preoccupied with trying to lower myself back to my pillow without giving myself a migraine. It wasn't easy, in case you're wondering.

Percy was getting up off the ground, where he over-dramatically fell off the mattress and next to Annabeth. Oh my God, he and Annabeth were sitting together. How cute was _that? _

"Claire," Annabeth said, not as surprised as Percy was. "You're awake. It's usually at least three days. Or maybe that's only for Percy," she added slyly.

"Hey!" he demanded, brushing off his jeans.

She laughed, and I noticed how they were completely at ease. I'd never seen them like that. They were always looking around, or disappearing in the most random moments with a pen and a ruler.

Don't ask me for what. Annabeth probably needed to do some emergency measurement for extra credit in math. Then again, Annabeth didn't need extra credit.

"Do you remember anything?" she cautiously asked me.

"Uh, I remember leaving my friends, and trying to get to your camp, but these really huge _things _kept following us, and then…nothing."

She looked mildly impressed. "That's more than most people remember, given the concussion you got."

"Yeah, uh, okay," I stuttered. "So, what did happen?"

Annabeth sighed. "This is always so hard to explain."

Percy put his hands behind his neck, and plopped himself down on the mattress.

"Good luck, then."

Annabeth hit his shoulder. "You're not helping!"

"Annabeth," Percy said very seriously, "if you don't know where to start, what on Olympus makes you think _I _will know?"

Annabeth put her head in her hands; I let out a dry laugh.

"You two are weird."

"Okay. Okay. Claire, I'm going to explain this to you. Don't ask any questions until I'm done."

I nodded to let her know I would abide by her rules. By now I was getting seriously curious. I could handle keeping my mouth shut for a while.

"Alright, well, you know the stories about the Greek Gods."

"Yeah, that's all you and Percy talk about."

She gives me a look.

"Sorry. Go on."

"Well, what if I told you all of that was real? They're not myths, and they still exist today. Some of the gods come down every so often and have children with mortals—non-godly people. Their kids are called half-bloods or demigods. Percy and I are demigods. You know my dad. He's mortal but my mom is Athena, goddess of Wisdom. Percy's mom—Sally, remember?—is his mortal parent. His dad is Poseidon."

"Yeah, the most coolest god ever!"

"Whatever, Percy. Claire?"

I blinked. "You're kidding, right?" It had to be the most bizarre thing I'd ever heard.

"You wish," Percy smiled. "You should've seen me when I found out! Well, actually it wasn't that hard for me to believe. 'Cause, you see, when I first came to Camp, my mom brought me. Except the Minotaur came after us and kidnapped her and gave her to Hades. I didn't even have time to process it! I had to go find Zeus' lightning bolt, Hades' helm thing, _and _my mom. When you think about it, I have a rough childhood!"

"Percy, please, be quiet. She needs time."

In fact, I didn't need time. I wanted to know more.

"So, I'm half goddess? Since my dad is…mortal?"

"That's right," Annabeth confirmed.

"So my mom is alive?"

"Affirmative," contributed Percy.

"Then, who is she? Can I meet her?" I was bubbling with excitement. I got to meet my mom? Best day ever!

"We don't know yet. You'll have to wait until she claims you. Until then, you stay in the Hermes cabin."

"Okay, okay," I brushed her off. My mom would claim me soon enough, anyway. "But when she does claim me, I can meet her?"

Even Percy's smile dropped from his face.

"Claire," began Annabeth. "The gods are always really busy. Lots of times they don't even have time to _claim _their kids, much less visit them."

I felt the smile I had on my face fade. Chances are, my mom wouldn't even remember me. I haven't done anything specific to earn her attention, anyway.

"Don't feel bad," Percy said. "I've found the lightning bolt, helm of darkness, golden fleece, held the _sky, _saved her," he jabbed a finger at Annabeth, "destroyed the labyrinth, and I've met my dad less than five times." His eyebrows knitted together in concern. "Wow, harsh , Dad."

"Oh," I replied half-heartedly. "Okay then."

"It's a lot to process, but you'll be used to it soon. Don't worry."

She grabbed Percy's hand and lugged him upward, only to drop his hand immediately, red faced. I cocked my head to the side. I understood about earlier, seeing as they almost kissed, but they used to hold hands all the time. Something must have happened between them. Something intimate. I made it my job to find out as soon as I got over this whole mess.

"Another thing," Annabeth announced, spinning around, "Stop saying 'Oh My God' so much. The gods get offended and jealous really quickly. They act like real babies at times."

Thunder grumbled outside.

"Oh, shut up. Come on, Perce."

They left me in the hospital. The last thing I heard was their laughter echoing outside, where it still hurt to look due to the sun. I leaned my head on the wall behind my back, and I allowed the tears to flow down my cheeks. I wondered if my dad knew.

_She was alive. My mom was alive._


	22. First Day at Camp

**A/N: I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR REVIEWS, THEY'RE REALLY MOTIVATING. ALSO, AFTER THINKING, THE CLAIRE CHAPTERS WILL PROBABLY GO TO ABOUT FIVE, MAYBE SIX. I'M NOT EXACTLY SURE YET.**

**DISCLAIMER: NEVER WILL I EVER OWN PJO, SO GO ASK SOMEONE ELSE.**

"And, so, those are the cabins," said Connor Stoll, one of my head counselors.

I closed my eyes and let out a puff of breath through my mouth, blowing strands of hair around my face. Then, I laughed, put my hands on my forehead, and reopened my eyes.

"I'm sorry. It's just…"

"A lot to take in? Yeah, I know. We get that a lot."

I gave him a grateful smile and followed him down the beautiful path again.

"About the claiming, Connor…"

Connor rubbed his hand over his forehead and looked at me with sympathy. His shaggy brown hair blew slightly in the wind.

"Claire, look, I'm sure Percy and Annabeth told you. The gods, they're not very…uh…"

He seemed at a loss for words, which I didn't exactly get.

Knitting my eyebrows, I asked, "Why are you afraid of saying something bad?"

Connor looked at me incredulously. The look on his face was hilarious, actually.

"Okay, I get it, but Percy and Annabeth basically told them off, and they're still alive."

Connor scoffed. "Yeah, because the gods would be crazy to try to kill Percy and Annabeth."

Distant thunder was heard and Connor shot a quick sorry to those on Olympus.

"Why?" I couldn't help my curiosity, especially since I knew them both. "Are they famous or something?"

"Oh, they're more than famous." He sighed tiredly. "Look, do you really want the whole Percy – Annabeth story?"

I nodded eagerly. "Well I'm not telling it," he laughed.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Travis Stoll, Connor's brother, run past and wave quickly at us, before turning his head to see what was behind him and ran even faster. Connor laughed and earned himself a wicked gleam in the eye and smiling at me. I'd just met him, but he seemed nice enough. Although, I was determined not to get attracted to him, seeing as I'd made a promise to James. A promise that I fully intended to keep, too.

"I would be more than happy, though, to escort you to some of their fans who certainly won't mind going through their life story for you?"

I smile at him again. "That'd be great, thanks!"

"No problem," he winked. "This way, please."

He put his hand on the top of my back, leading the way. We had to walk through some fallen leaves from a couple trees. It bothered me a little, getting dirty, but I didn't mind grass that much. In California I spent most of my time at the park, anyway. It wasn't like I wasn't used to it.

However, when we stepped onto a certain pile of leaves, something cracked underneath my foot, and a bucket of ice cold water drenched me from head to toe. Connor laughed hysterically. Travis came from the corner, looked at my expression, and was almost as amused as his brother.

Sobering up a little, they walked towards each other and granted themselves a hi-five. Then, like a godsent angel—I guess I wasn't to use that expression anymore—a buff girl, introduced to me as Clarisse about a half hour before, ran out after Travis. No doubt, this was who he had been running from earlier.

She screamed at them, "Stolls! How many times do I have to tell you not to steal things from my cabin for your stupid pranks!"

"Dear, Clarisse," this new Connor strode next to her. "I would rather you call our prank _genius_."

Clarisse held up her fist and was about to pummel both of the brothers, which I would have conveniently not seen (if asked). But Travis interrupted.

"Clarisse," he sang in a high-pitched voice. "Remember your promise with Chiron."

"You stole from my—"

"And he specifically said 'No more beating us up, no matter the occasion,'" he raised his voice to speak over hers.

Clarisse screamed loudly and muttered something about war time not being the time for this, then stormed her way back towards her cabin, picking up whatever equipment belonged to her. I shivered. It really was getting chilly.

Behind me, a voice said softly, "What's going on?"

I whirled around to see two pretty girls walking from the forest. One of them had long dark brown hair and big green eyes. The other had pale blonde hair, but they shared the same color eyes.

They sized up my situation, then the dark haired one said, "Really, Stolls? We've got a _war _to prepare for and you're pulling a prank on a newbie? That's low, even for you jerks. You're disgusting."

Travis winked at her. "Always a good time to keep the mood light, Katie."

The girl rolled her eyes, then turned to me. "I'm Katie," she introduced herself. "This is my sister, Miranda. Come on, we'll help you get dry. Have you been claimed yet?"

I shook my head, teeth chattering, and gave them a grateful smile.

"Okay, that's fine," she offered, and they both began to lead me away from the Stoll brothers, who were yelling at us to 'catch them later.'

Before any of us could get too far, two more figures emerged. Annabeth folded her arms and I tried not to be annoyed as Percy suppressed a grin and 'secretly' congratulated the Stolls.

"Annabeth!" Travis exclaimed. I knew Annabeth was scary, but he looked even more scared to see her than Clarisse.

"Just the lady we were looking for," inputted Connor. "Claire, here, wanted your story."

"My story?" Annabeth asked raising her eyebrows. She obviously knew any problems the brothers could pull off by the back of her hand. It made me wonder how long she'd been attending here.

"Well, you and Percy's"

Annabeth looked quite amused, in fact, as she turned towards Percy.

"Did you know we had a story, Perce?"

"What? Oh, uh, no. I mean, why would we have a story?"

Travis, Connor, Miranda, and Katie groaned. I was beginning to get so confused, I was pretty sure my mental health would never be the same again.

"We'll get you cleaned up," Miranda offered. It was the first time I was hearing her voice; it was unsurprisingly soft and sweet. "Then, we can hear the story they've been longing to tell you."

"Oh, yeah," I agreed. "We should've gotten that done a long time ago. I just wanted to take a little detour."

There was a campfire that night, led by the Apollo cabin, of course. I didn't see the big deal, and I didn't want to go, but about the whole camp went, so I figured I should or I would look bad. Really, I wanted to find out what made my two best friends so immortal.

Katie and Miranda sort of filled me in on the way to get me dried. They told me about how there was a war going on, and they were preparing really hard for it, but Chiron, who I still haven't met, suggested that they still try to do campfires. Because, after all, they weren't at war quite yet.

So I sat by the campfire by Katie and Miranda, because even though I was in the Hermes cabin until I got 'determined,' I still hadn't forgiven the Stolls. I sat by the campfire watching the flames change color. Sometimes it was a low purple; I guessed that was when thoughts about the war were going around. When someone laughed, though, it grew in size, erupting in a bright orange.

If you thought my day couldn't get weirder, think again. A horse came out. With a human torso. Honestly, I was ready to scream I quit and run, if not for the silence and respect and admiration that fell around when he order, "Please, let's calm down."

I hadn't been there long, but I guessed it took more than a little to calm this crowd down. So, if he could do it, I had better listen to what he had to say.

"That's Chiron," whispered Katie.

Miranda leaned in and added, "He usually tells the new campers about the war and the existence of the gods, but he's been really busy with the war, so he left that to the campers."

I nodded blankly, waiting for Chiron to say what he had to say.

"As most of you may know," he continued, "we have a new camper."

It took a while for me to realize he was talking about me. I didn't know what to do, but Katie nudged me. I twisted the pendant on my neck. I wasn't even sure if that actually belonged to my mom. Reluctantly, I stood up. My hesitation wasn't for the eyes on me, I was used to it. It was because they were the eyes of people who were half _god_. The realization hit hard.

In a distance, I heard Annabeth exclaim, "I knew it!" to Percy. I saw Connor's eyes and jaw drop. And I saw the exchange of gold coins between Katie and Miranda. I was confused as anything.

"Uh, what?"

The entire camp laughed, and for once in my life, I didn't want any attention. Chiron smiled sweetly at me. "Ladies and gentlemen, Claire Velasquez, daughter of Aphrodite."

Everyone clapped and whooped, but I still didn't get it.

"Look at yourself, Claire!" Katie said.

I gasped when I did. I wore a long blue dress, white gloves, and my hair seemed longer than usual, so it was probably flat ironed. I was ready to pass out. I couldn't believe I knew who my mom was.

An hour later, I was finally getting my wish. They were going to tell me why Percy and Annabeth were so valuable. I was actually more curious than I thought I'd be. Katie, Miranda, Travis, Connor, Silena, my new counselor, and even Clarisse were accompanying me.

We found Percy and Annabeth sitting on the edge of a dock overlooking the sea. They were so deep in conversation that they didn't notice us approaching them.

"…don't know what I'd do," Annabeth was saying. "I lost you already."

Percy's head turned to the side so that he was looking at her. "No, you haven't."

"I thought you were dead!"

"I wasn't! Don't pretend you don't know where to know where I was."

"Of course I know where you were! It's the _only _rational place, and the only way you could have gotten back—"

_"__And I came back. _Why do you think I came back?"

"The war," Annabeth said stubbornly.

"You're impossible!" Percy accused.

"Well why else would you have left?" she challenged.

Percy didn't answer. They simply had a staring contest, as if they were trying to break down invisible walls. Then, Travis, being the graceful he is, tripped over his unmoving feet, crashing loudly, causing Percy and Annabeth to spring apart.

"What the _Hades _are you doing?" Annabeth screamed, after recovering herself of the fall into the water Percy saved her from.

Clarisse snickered. "Sorry to ruin your little moment. Time to tell your story."


	23. EPILOGUE

**A/N: THIS IS THE EPILOGUE AND FINAL CHAPTER OF 'THEIR MORTAL FRIENDS.' AND, WHAT'S MORE, FOR COMMENTS ASKING FOR THIS IN EARLIER CHAPTERS, IT'S IN PERCY'S POV. **

**I WANT TO SAY ONE LAST THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HAS COMMENTED, FAVORITED, FOLLOWED. YOU ALL ARE MY MOTIVATION AND I PROBABLY WOULDN'T HAVE MADE IT THIS FAR. IT'S CRAZY HOW MUCH REVIEWS I'VE GOTTEN AND I JUST REALLY WANT TO SAY THANK YOU. I MEAN IT. THANK YOU X10000, ESPECIALLY TO THE PEOPLE WHO COMMENT ON ALL OR ALMOST ALL CHAPTERS. I CAN'T REMEMBER ALL, BUT YOU GET ME.**

**I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT. IT'S NOT VERY LONG, BUT I HOPE YOU LIKE READING IT AND MY STORY.**

**DISCLAIMER: FOR THE LAST TIME, NEVER WILL I EVER OWN PJO, BUT THIS IS ENOUGH.**

Percy's POV

Everything was calming down, now, I guessed. I mean, the other guys _finally _stopped being mad at us. Well, at least to our faces. I didn't know what they were saying behind our backs, but I didn't want to know either. I'd had enough mistrust to last me a lifetime.

Besides, I didn't even care who was mad at me, or didn't trust me at the moment. I didn't care if Ben or James or Roger or Lesley or Sara or even Claire walked up to me and said they didn't trust me. Or if they told me…something bad. I couldn't even think straight right now. Want to know why?

Two words: Annabeth Chase. We were _finally _together. I mean, we'd been together for forever, really. But when we were kids, we weren't dating, and when we were dating we were at war. Tough life, huh? To be honest, though, I couldn't imagine my life any differently. No, that's a lie. I could totally imagine my life differently. It would probably suck.

I'd probably still be with Smelly Gabe and his old drunken friends! I wouldn't have met Grover, or found out who my dad was. I wouldn't have known Annabeth! I don't even remember what I did when Annabeth wasn't around. All I know is, everything is much better the way it played out. Sure, I probably nearly almost died a couple times. Other than that, my life is pretty much butterflies and sunshine. Well, not really, but I'm in a good mood.

We got to hang out with The Mortals—that's what I call that group of friends behind their back. But not only them! The others were here. The Six…that still sounded weird and whenever I thought about it, I got this burning feeling in my throat. I forced myself to stop thinking about it, because I didn't want to ruin my good mood.

Anyway, on top of the six of us, were Travis, Connor, Katie, Miranda, Nico, Will, and Clarisse. Even _Clarisse._ Now, I'd never admit it to her, but I sort of considered her a friend. Okay, fine. She was probably one of my farthest close friends, if you know what I mean. In shorter terms, everything was perfect.

Silently, I cursed myself for thinking that. Every time I thought everything was going just fine, one of the gods decided that wasn't going to do and messed that up. So, no, everything was totally, completely horrible.

"Why are you smiling like that?" I heard a soft voice ask.

I looked down and saw Annabeth snuggled comfortably under my shoulder and looking at me very amusedly. I laughed, and I felt her shaking beside me, so I guessed she was laughing, too.

"We've come a long way, Wise Girl," I said.

She shook her head. "That we have, Seaweed Brain."

"But everything's good now. Look around. We're finally…" I didn't know how to finish that sentence so I followed all my instructions and looked around.

Ben and Lesley were in deep conversation, smiling every minute and occasionally leaning in for a kiss. I was glad they were together, though. Every single day, and I'm not even joking, _every day_, Annabeth tells me how stupid I was for being 'oblivious' and not seeing that she had a crush on me. I was offended. How could _she _not see _I _had a crush on her? She was the smart one!

However oblivious I was, though, it was basically impossible not to tell that Ben had a massive crush on her. Before we were dating officially, I wanted to pummel the guy. But I didn't because…I couldn't blame him. Who wouldn't fall for her? To answer my own question, a lot of people, but that's either because: One; Annabeth scares them, or Two; I scare them. Either way works for me, really.

A little distance away, Claire had her hands around James' neck and he had his on her waist, while they were pretending to dance to a slow song. Roger and Sara were sitting under 'Our Tree' not speaking, but gazing either at each other or the sky. That was kind of weird.

Katie and Miranda were walking through the grass of the park either admiring or criticizing the agriculture. Travis and Connor stomped behind them. Travis kept yelling after Katie, saying something about how all the other couples were doing something together. Katie ignored him and every time Travis failed at getting through to her, Connor had a fit of laughter. Will and Nico were standing at least five feet away from each other, but still speaking intensely and deeply. Nico looked so into the guy, and I wondered what they could have possibly been talking about that got him so intrigued. I was pretty sure I was just as interesting, but I shrugged it off because I had Annabeth, and I didn't need to be Nico's 'type.'

Clarisse, on the other hand, was somewhere getting everybody food. She volunteered because she said she didn't want to stay at this 'love fest' longer than she had to. I personally think she was just really hungry.

"Peaceful?" Annabeth guessed the answer to the remaining word of my sentence. "Together? Calm? Happy?"

I looked into her gray eyes, swimming with happiness, and I swear to all the gods I could have stayed there forever, just looking at her. She was so beautiful.

"No," I deadpanned. "I don't know about you, but, as long as I was with you, I was happy."

Annabeth's cheeks grew red, but she still rolled her eyes, muttering that I was cheesy.

Thinking of something, I stood up quickly and offered her my hand. She raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Come on," I urged. "Let's go for a walk."

She put her hand in mine and I pulled her up. As soon as her fit hit the ground firmly, we started walking hand in hand. At first, we said nothing, just enjoyed each other's presence, and walked as close as possible.

Then, I said, "Annabeth?"

"Percy?"

I shook my head. Tonight was almost the second best night of my life. The first was obviously the night we had our second first kiss. Annabeth didn't like to count the first one, because she says I didn't have a crush on her then, and I was about to die. But, seeing as I did have a crush on her, and I was about to die for her, I secretly counted it.

"What is it?" she bumped my shoulder, begging me to say what I wanted to say. The problem was, I didn't know what I wanted to say.

I stopped walking and held her other hand. "Now, I'm not the romantic kind of guy," I told her.

"I knew that," she whispered, but I quickly hushed her.

"But tonight, with our friends, being here, with you. I don't know. It's kind of perfect don't you think?"

She smiled sweetly at me and stepped closer. "I think you've gotten far too cheesy and romantic. But, to answer your question, yes. Tonight is one of those perfect nights."

I leaned down so our foreheads were touching and closed my eyes.

"I love you," she breathed.

I smiled. The words still had a crazy effect on me. "I love you _so much_, Annabeth, it scares me."

I opened my eyes and seconds later, so did she. The expression in them were unreadable, and I couldn't look away. She blinked once, then twice, and on the third she crashed against me with such force that I nearly fell.

It took me all of four seconds to regain my balance and pull her even closer to me. I kissed her back, pouring my feelings into it. I thought, yes. This is definitely the second best night of my life. Annabeth's arms flew behind my neck and I put mine on her waist, and if someone had told us we were there for over an hour, I would have believed them.

I smiled against our kiss and felt her do the same. Just as we were about to kiss again, though, I heard a loud, gruff voice hollering, "Pizza!"

I reluctantly looked behind Annabeth and saw Clarisse walking towards the middle of the park where our friends were, many pizza boxes in hand.

"Quit the love fest for an hour, love birds, or I'll barf out all the food I eat!"

Some people yelled back at her, but most just laughed and went to join her.

"Perfect timing," I scratched behind my neck.

Annabeth laughed and pulled me in for one more short kiss. "All good things must come to an end, Percy Jackson. Now, come on. I'm starving."

I looked at the sky. Full moon, bright stars. I even though I could make out Zoe's constellation. Smiling, I grabbed her hand, and we ran toward our friends.


	24. VERY IMPORTANT-PLEASE READ

**TO ALL MY STOLLEN READERS- GO AHEAD AND READ THIS AND DON'T WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING.**

**TO ALL MY THEIR MORTAL FRIENDS READERS- THIS IS AN AUTHORS NOT LEFT FOR MY OTHER UNFINISHED FANFIC STOLLEN, BUT A LOT OF IT I WANT YOU GUYS TO KNOW ABOUT, AND I WANT TO HEAR YOUR OPINIONS AND FEEDBACK, SO ALTHOUGH THE BEGINNING IS KIND OF CONFUSING, PLEASE READ, BECAUSE THE END AND MIDDLEISH IS VERY IMPORTANT**

Hi, Guys. As you've probably guessed, I haven't written anything like I promised. The thing is, I'm a junior in high school, packed with work, I've got great friends, a social life. If you think I'm about to say that I've grown out fanfiction, you're absolutely wrong. I'm a fucking nerd for life, but I've definitely lost interest in writing this particular fic. And it's a real shame, because I had plans- Travis would end up with Katie, and Connor with Amanda, and I had a whole bunch of love triangles and heartbreaks planned, and I can't even tell you about it right now because I don't even remember the characters' names. I have, however, written a very successful fanfic before, and completed it. There are some things I'd like to change with it, but I won't, because it's my first, and when I read it over, I want it to be that I'm reading my old work. Kind of like seeing into my past you know? I don't want to be changing and updating it because I don't like it, because when I was writing it, it was well and good enough.

It's called Their Mortal Friends, if anyone's interested. That's no the point. I've kind of been thinking that I should do like a continuation of it. I like it; I'm satisfied with it, but there's definitely room for more, even if I don't focus on the same characters. I'm thinking I'll work on a sequel to TMF. Buuuuttt, don't worry, I won't make the same mistake. If I do decide to do this, I will write the entire fic before posting it to avoid slow updates and blah blah blah. I'm not 100% but it's definitely on my mind. I love logging in about every month now [As you can tell I'm not a frequent user] and checking how many people have read it. I never expected it to get so many reviews and likes, but it did, and I am so grateful for each review written. It's actually a bunch of reviews that were recently posted that made me own up to the fact that I'm not finishing Stollen. And it's those same reviews that make me want to start all over. As a bonus I was even thinking of doing sort of an interview with the characters!

Like I said in the beginning, I am busy. I am focusing on my own sort of story with an internet-friend, but I won't abandon the idea. And if I do write, i will be the entire story, and you will get the entire story. Who knows? It may be even sooner-I have 2 weeks of spring break, and I'll have my computer, and no internet. Maybe I'll write then.

Thank you so much for your continuous support. You all have encouraged me so much on trying to become a writer, because it is my passion. I'm serious. Without you all, I'd be nowhere. You'll be hearing from me soon.

Mar.


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